We Just Have That Effect On People
by Michelle285
Summary: Luke and Lorelai are together. Will they get married? Will family and ex's mess things up for them? Will they finally get their happily ever after?
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, much would have been different. There would have been no Christopher and April would not have been a problem. _

_ A/N: This is the first time I have tried a L/L story. I don't know exactly how it's going to go, but I guess we will see. I am in denial about season 6, 7, and basically the end of season 5. Immature maybe, but I like things to be happy. The timeline here: Rory is home for Christmas Break from Yale, it is her first year there and Luke and Lorelai have been going out for a while. April isn't in the story, because technically she wouldn't have appeared yet. Luke and Lorelai didn't have their first kiss on the Dragonfly's steps, but the dialogue was the same…minus a naked Kirk. _

"I'm telling you, it could happen!"

"But why?"

"For our intelligence."

"So, let me see if I have this straight. You think that one day Martians will come down to earth and steal our intelligence?" Rory questioned her mother.

"Exactly!" Lorelai exclaimed. "Don't you remember E.T? It's the perfect plan."

"But E.T. was a good alien and didn't come for our intelligence," Rory reminded her mother. "Besides, I don't understand how they would get our intelligence."

"I didn't say it was a completely thought out plan," Lorelai said. "Why do you think they haven't come yet?"

"Who hasn't come yet?" Luke questioned as he walked up to the table with a coffee pot.

Lorelai opened her mouth to answer, but Rory cut her off quickly. "Trust me Luke, you don't want to know."

"It's very interesting," Lorelai argued.

"And something that only her mind could conjure up," Rory threw in for good measure.

"In that case, I'd better trust Rory and say that I don't want to know," Luke concluded.

Rory smiled at him. "That was a very good decision."

Luke looked at Rory. "Do you think I could talk to you for a quick second?"

"Sure," Rory agreed. When Luke said nothing she looked at him strangely. "Umm, you're going to have to open your mouth, words are going to have to come out..."

"Um, could we talk in private?" Luke questioned hopefully.

"Hey now, I don't like the idea of you abducting my kid," Lorelai interjected.

Luke rolled his eyes, used to this by now, and loving every second of her crazy. "Do you think that if I was going to kidnap her I would discuss it in front of you?"

"Maybe he's the alien," Lorelai whispered to Rory conspiratorially. "Maybe they are farther ahead then I originally thought."

Rory chuckled at the thought of Luke as an alien. She could only imagine the arguments her mom could come up with to support that idea. Luke didn't like coffee, didn't like junk food, and didn't know any movie references. Rory quickly shook her head. She had fueled her mom's craziness enough already. "I highly doubt that, Mom."

"Well, I still don't see why you need to go with him. I won't have anyone to talk to now," Lorelai tried again.

"You're just jealous that Luke likes me better," Rory teased her mom. "Oh, look, here comes Kirk. I'm sure he would love to hear about your alien theory. He could probably find a way to contact them or something. I'm sure he would offer you his services."

"Dirty!" Lorelai exclaimed.

Rory laughed while Luke rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly.

"You know I didn't mean it like that," Rory tried to reprimand her mom, which was pretty hard because she was still laughing. She hadn't heard a dirty in so long, mostly because she was in college and she filtered her thoughts before she talked to her mom. She was confused about Luke wanting to talk to her though, so she didn't filter this thought. That's what she got.

"Any end to this conversation in sight?" Luke grumbled.

"Yes, yes," Lorelai consoled him. "Right now. But you'd better be careful Burger Boy. You have my kid. I'm watching you."

"I wouldn't dare do anything with your kid, Crazy Lady," Luke teased right back at her. Although it was said in a teasing tone, both Rory and Lorelai knew how much he meant that statement.

Luke turned around and walked into the storeroom and made sure Rory was inside before he shut the door, with a last look at Lorelai. Rory was beyond confused at this point. She was a little confused when Luke asked to talk to her, because normally he just would. She was even more confused when Luke asked to do it in private, and now she just wanted to know what was going on here.

"Okay, I have to ask," Rory said. "What is going on with you? Am I even allowed to be in here? What if something falls on my head and kills me?"

Luke shook his head. "You're officially insured."

"Since when?" Rory asked. Last she had heard she was in danger of being hurt every time she set foot anywhere near Luke's appliances. "Have I really been away that long?"

"No," Luke assured her. "This is a very recent development. So recent in fact that your mom doesn't even know about it."

"Why did you do it?" Rory asked. "You know that will just give her more incentive to go behind the counter and get more coffee."

Luke wrinkled his nose. "Well, although I didn't think of that, I guess it will give me another chance to lecture her."

"Another chance that will never work," Rory said. "See, you need to consult me before you make big decisions. I can help you, especially when it comes to Mom."

"You were kidding, but that's why I'm consulting you now," Luke told Rory seriously. "How do you think your mom would feel about getting married?"

Rory's eyes got wide. "To…to you?"

"Shhhhh!" Luke exclaimed quickly. "I don't want her to hear you. And I would hope to me. Unless she has another boyfriend."

Rory smiled. "Nope, no other boyfriends. Well, I definitely think she will love it. But why are you asking me? Aren't you supposed to ask the father?"

"Oh, I'm going to ask him too," Luke informed Rory. "But I figured Lorelai would appreciate it more if it came from you first. And I would never leave you out of such a big decision, your mom would want you to be informed, I'm almost sure of it."

"So you are going to be all proper about it and ask Grandpa?" Rory asked, just to clarify.

"Yes," Luke agreed. "I'm also going to try to ask your grandma what she thinks."

Rory shook her head. "That isn't a very smart idea. Besides, I don't think Grandpa will let you. He'll say, 'If you want to marry my daughter, you won't ask Emily.' He knows she will say no, and you can't/won't disobey her. I mean, you can ask Grandpa if you can talk to her, but I'm almost positive he won't let you."

"Why is he okay with it?" Luke questioned. He knew Emily didn't like him because he was a "diner man" but he wasn't aware Richard was that okay with him.

"Well, I think he wishes Mom was marrying someone more…high society, but he can tell you make Mom happy. When Mom is with you, she is happier than we have ever seen her and Grandpa respects that. Besides, he knows that if he tries to stop her he will most definitely lose her and most likely me by association," Rory explained.

"I'm still going to try and ask Emily," Luke told Rory.

Rory rolled her eyes. "Why do I even bother. So, when are you going to ask Mom? I think you should do it soon. If you don't, I will probably tell her by accident. I am so bad at keeping big secrets."

"How about tonight?" Luke asked Rory.

"Tonight is go—bad," Rory stumbled. "We are having a movie night tonight, but I will definitely get out of it. I can hang out with Lane tonight. She can have Bible Study with Ms. Kim tomorrow night. No wait, she's not speaking to Ms. Kim. Umm…"

"Rory, it's okay," Luke assured her. "I can just ask her tomorrow."

"No," Rory insisted. "You know how our movie nights go. We watch a bunch of classics, eat a lot of junk food, and then we talk about how much we wish we had a love life, in my case, or in her case, how much we wish we could get married and have the whole package. She hasn't been doing that as much lately, but she will do it tonight, just to remember old times. She'll say, 'Remember when…' and I don't want to have to talk to her about that, because then I will definitely tell her. And I don't want to do that because then it will ruin your surprise, and I don't want to do that—"

"Rory, it's okay," Luke said. "I'm sure you can just tell her that Lane wanted to do something with you tonight because they have band practice tomorrow or something. But I'm really okay with waiting."

"Well, I'm not," Rory told him. "I am terrible at lying and with something as big as this, I'm sure I'll be even worse."

"Okay, so I'll do it tonight," Luke agreed. "Should your mom and I have a little movie night or something?"

Rory nodded. "I think that would be a great idea. You should pick a really good movie and then somehow relate the proposal you have to the movie."

"Why should I go to so much trouble?" Luke inquired.

"You know why," Rory said. "I mean, Mom will say yes no matter how you ask, but it would be so much cooler this way."

"I would even know where to start," Luke lamented. "I'm not a movie guy."

"But you can be a movie guy," Rory reminded him of what he said one night. "Now is your chance to prove it. If all else fails, it's almost Christmas, just get a Christmas movie."

"Okay, that's what I'll do," Luke agreed. "If all else fails. Now, we should get back out there."

"Wait," Rory stopped him. "We have to come up with an excuse as to why we were back here. Mom will ask, and I need something to tell her, that sounds a bit on the legitimate side."

Luke and Rory were both quiet for a minute, when Rory had an idea. "Coffee!"

Luke looked at her like she had gone crazy. "Don't you have some at the table? When we think of a reason as to why we were back here, you can get it."

Rory laughed. "No, I mean, that is the reason we were back here so long. You are going to give Mom decaf."

"That's dangerous…for me," Luke clarified.

"I know," Rory agreed. "But we have to have a believable reason, so you were back here trying to convince me that we could get decaf past 'the nose' and I was arguing that there was no way you could."

"But I'm sure your mom already has coffee," Luke reasoned. "It would be suspicious in itself if I brought her over another mug."

"Ceaser doesn't give her anything anymore. He knows she likes to wait for you," Rory informed Luke. "But I'm not sure how much longer we can be back here and she will believe we were arguing about coffee. So, is that what we're doing?"

"Since it's the only thing we have right now, I guess so," Luke agreed reluctantly.

"It will be fine," Rory assured him. "Besides, this is your chance to somewhat nourish her."

"She won't drink it, its decaf."

"True," Rory agreed. "True."

_If it's bad, just let me know. I don't have a beta, if you think I need one, let me know! Review though, because if I don't get any reviews, I won't know if I should keep posting or not! _


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I don't own any character you recognize._

_A/N: Chapter two. I hope you like this! Enjoy!_

"It's about time," Lorelai said when Rory got back to the table. "I was about ready to come look for you. Was he the alien?"

Rory had to roll her eyes. "Mom, if he was, do you think I would be able to tell you he was anyway?"

"I guess you have a point," Lorelai agreed. "And that was a very smart sentence; therefore I must conclude the aliens did nothing to your intelligence."

"The aliens that don't exist," Rory reminded her mom. "Besides, look at him, he's bringing you your mug. There is no way he would know that if he was an alien…if they did exist."

"So that's what he did with you back there," Lorelai said loudly. When Rory's face took on a confused look she began to explain more. "He showed you where the real Luke is tied up and then made you and the real Luke tell him which one was my mug."

"Mom, you know I love you, but this is getting old. Please stop," Rory begged.

"Here is your coffee," Luke cut into their conversation.

Lorelai began to bring the cup to her lips when she stopped. "Hold on a minute." She brought the mug close to her nose and sniffed it. "This isn't coffee! Smell it, Rory!"

"Well, Mom, most people do call it coffee," Rory reasoned.

"I don't!" Lorelai said indignantly.

"People do," Rory soothed her mom in a comforting voice. "I know it isn't coffee."

"What do you crazy people mean?" Luke asked looking incredibly annoyed. _Wow, he's good_, Rory thought before she could stop herself.

"This is decaf!" Lorelai shouted. The people of the diner just smiled, they didn't even have to turn around anymore; they were so used to Lorelai and Luke's antics. Well, Lorelai's antics and Luke's catering to them, knowingly or unknowingly.

"I told you!" Rory shouted as well, just a volume lower than her mother. "I knew she would recognize it. I knew you wouldn't be able to get it by her."

Lorelai looked confused. "Fill in the blanks, Hon."

Luke rolled his eyes. "And while she does that, I guess if I know what's good for me, I'll go get you some more coffee…some real coffee."

Lorelai smiled sweetly at him and he felt butterflies flutter up in his stomach. How could she still affect him like this after eight years? Still though, he loved it and hoped that never changed. "I'll be back with your regular food soon too, and then I'll eat breakfast with you. Lane and Ceaser are both here."

Lorelai's smile got even wider if possible, and Rory smiled looking at her mom and Luke, her soon-to-be stepdad. Her family. She felt as though Luke had been part of her family since the day she met him and she knew her mom felt the same way. Rory smiled even wider when she saw Luke's hand stroke her mom's hair as he walked away to get the coffee.

"You two are so cute," Rory sighed. "I hope I get someone like him someday."

"You will," Lorelai assured her. "Just don't settle, no matter what your grandma says. Now, about those blanks and the coffee."

"Luke just took me back to the storage room to see if I thought he could get you to drink some decaf," Rory explained. "I, of course, told him he couldn't—"

"Hi, the nose," Lorelai supplied.

"Exactly, but he didn't believe me," Rory concluded. "Maybe one day he will learn."

"Maybe, one day," Luke agreed, as he came back to the table with their orders. "But it's highly doubtful. I just want you both to live past forty."

"Luke, the fates won't kill us," Lorelai promised him.

"There are no fates," Luke insisted every time she brought this up with him. He went back to fix his breakfast. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

While Rory continued to smile at their antics, she heard a voice calling her. Turing around, she saw it was Lane. She made a move to get up, but her mother stopped her. "Where do you think you're going?"

Rory gestured to Lane. "Lane is calling me."

"But who am I going to talk to now?" Lorelai whined again.

Rory shook her head. "Really? Are you four? Jeez!"

"You've been spending too much time with Luke," Lorelai called after her retreating daughter.

_ Sorry this was so short. It was just a filler chapter and this seemed like a good place to break it off. The next one should be a little longer. Tell me what you thought about this chapter, spelling, grammer, characterization…review! _


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I don't own. _

_A/N: Yeah, another short chapter. They will be getting longer, don't worry. Enjoy!_

"You called?" Rory asked Lane.

"Luke said you needed to see me," Lane reminded Rory.

"Oh yeah," Rory remembered. "You are having band practice tomorrow night."

"I am?" Lane questioned. "You and I are hanging out tomorrow night."

"No, we were, but now we have to hang out tonight, which is why you are switching band practice to tomorrow," Rory said.

"But, that shouldn't be a problem," Lane argued. "I have band practice on Thursday, so it doesn't matter what day."

"Oh, but it does," Rory countered.

"I think…no I know I'm confused," Lane told Rory.

"Okay, you have to promise to not make a scene," Rory prepared Lane. "Luke wants to propose, and he needs to do it tonight."

Lane's eyes got wide and she quickly covered her mouth. Rory looked intently at her friend for a minute, willing her to remember not to make a scene. When Lane finally felt she could speak, she took her hands away from her mouth.

"Why does he need to do it tonight?" Lane whispered excitedly.

"The original plan was that Mom and I were going to have movie night tonight," Rory said.

"Oh!" Lane breathed, understanding quickly. "Does the town know?"

"About the proposal?" Rory clarified. "I doubt it. You know how annoyed Luke gets when people get in his business."

"But if he bought he ring in Stars Hollow, how do they not know?" Lane asked. "Ms. Patty and Babbette wouldn't miss something like that."

"Hmmm," Rory thought. "You're right. There is no way they would miss that. Maybe he didn't buy it in Stars Hollow?"

"I'll go ask," Lane said walking toward the kitchen. She came back with a bewildered look on her face. "He confirmed that he didn't buy it in Stars Hollow, but he wouldn't tell me where he did get it. When I asked him if he got in it Hartford or Litchfield, he said yes, but when I asked him which one he told me to pick one! Then he refused to answer anything else."

"That is very strange," Rory mused. "Where do you think he got it? I guess the ring is as big of a mystery as he is."

Lane laughed, "I think you're right. Okay, do you want to tell me the details of this alleged band practice I am having tonight?"

Rory smiled while watching Luke walking to their table with his plate in hand. "Here's the deal. Gil's babysitter is sick with the flu and he doesn't want to take a chance of her giving it to the kids, so she isn't going to be babysitting for a week. Gil's wife is off on Tuesday night, but not on Thursday. Therefore, the only time you all can practice is tomorrow. That's why you and I have to hang out tonight."

"Okay," Lane agreed. "I think that will work. I'll stick to the story."

Rory nodded. "Good. Now all I have to do is freak out about changing our movie night and the plan will be in motion."

Lane nodded and was going to say something else, until Kirk started complaining about his pancakes. Lane rolled her eyes and turned to Rory. "Sorry, but unless you want Luke to come up here, I have to take this."

"Go ahead," Rory consented. "I have to make my scene anyway."

Rory slowly walked back to the table and looked at her mom. "Hey Mom?"

"Yes, child of mine?"

"Do you think we could change our movie night to tomorrow? I mean, I know we were supposed to have it tonight to celebrate Christmas and all, and don't get me wrong I would love to do that, it's just Lane has band practice tomorrow night. Normally she wouldn't which is why we planned our hang out tomorrow, but Gil's babysitter got sick, and there was this big ordeal with who could and would watch his kids. I don't know all the details but I do know that she has practice tomorrow night and—"

"Rory, relax!" Lorelai interrupted. "It is fine for us to have our movie night tomorrow. Hang out with your friend tonight."

"But Mom," Rory argued. "You are my friend. I feel bad ditching one best friend for another. Besides, you freak out when I leave the table. If I change our plans for the night and leave you alone, who knows what will happen. You could have burned the house down or something."

"Rory, you know I was just kidding about that," Lorelai admonished. "Go and hang out with your best friend tonight. You and I can have best friend time tomorrow night."

"Rory, if it will make you feel better, your mom and I could do something tonight," Luke offered. "We can have our own little rendition of a movie night...just without all the junk food."

Rory gave a sigh of relief. "That would be amazing."

"Then that is what we'll do," Luke announced decidedly.

"I'll agree, on two conditions," Lorelai said. "The first one is for Rory. You have to promise we will have best friend time tomorrow, eat lots of junk food and watch all the classics."

Rory nodded. "Of course. I would expect nothing less out of a true celebratory Gilmore Girls movie night."

"Number two," Lorelai continued. "Luke, you have to pick the movies for tonight."

That was exactly what Luke wanted to do and he had no idea how he was going to get her to agree to that one. He was glad she had made it so easy for him. Of course, he had to keep up his façade, so he sighed exasperatedly. "Aw jeez!"

_ Well, that's it for this chapter. Coming up next: Luke calls Richard and asks about proposing. It will be up tomorrow. Review! _


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: You don't think I own, do you?_

_ A/N: And now, Luke asks Richard about the proposal. How does Richard react?_

"Gilmore residence," one of Emily Gilmore's many nameless maids answered the phone. Lorelai had told Luke one time to never learn the names of the maids, and he had found that advice to be very useful.

"Is Richard Gilmore home?" Luke asked hopefully. He was very nervous and didn't want to have to call Richard's office. Luke also didn't really want to do this over the phone, but he couldn't think of a better way to do it. He couldn't go to their house, because then Emily would see him, and according to Rory, that would be bad. Also, he couldn't ask Richard to go out of his way and come to the diner because Luke wanted to see him.

"Richard Gilmore speaking," Richard said in a businesslike tone.

"Mr. Gilmore, this is Luke Danes," Luke introduced himself, since he hadn't done so to the maid.

"Luke!" Richard exclaimed, dropping the businesslike tone in a second. "How are you? How is everyone in Stars Hollow doing? How are our girls?"

"Um, fine," Luke said, a little surprised at Richard's tone. He seemed almost excited. And nobody from the Hartford high society was ever this excited to speak to Luke. "I don't really want to do this over the phone, but there really is no better way to do this. Could I ask you a question?"

"Of course," Richard acquiesced. He almost knew what Luke wanted. After all, Luke wasn't one to call and chat. He knew if anything had happened to one of his girls, the other girl would have called. He also knew that question wasn't one Luke ever wanted to ask over the phone, but knew that Luke was smart and wouldn't dare cross Emily with that question. Luke also wouldn't ask Richard to come out of his way and drop by the diner because Luke needed something. All these reasons added up to one of the many reasons Richard liked this man.

Luke took a deep breath. "I love your daughter very much. Since I have been taking care of her and Rory for quite some time now and since Lorelai and I have been together for almost a year now, I was wondering if I could ask her to marry me."

Richard smiled. "I have no problem with it, but you should probably ask Rory this question. Lorelai respects her daughter's opinion much more than she will ever respect mine."

"I already have," Luke informed Richard. "I asked Rory this morning, and Rory was fine with it. She actually encouraged me to do it tonight."

Richard was actually speechless for a few seconds. He didn't know why, he should have known Luke would have asked Rory first. Luke knew his daughter better than anyone (obviously), and he would be the one who would know Rory would be needed to be asked first.

"Well, if Rory is okay with it, then I encourage you to do it," Richard told Luke. "You make my daughter happier than I've ever seen her and although you aren't exactly who I would have chosen for her, the days for arranged marriages have been gone for a while now. All I ever wanted was for my little girl to be happy.

"On the other hand," Richard continued. "I would advise you not to mention any of this to Emily. She will not be one to accept it. She still has not accepted the fact that Christopher was never right for Lorelai. She loves image and the perfect image is for Lorelai to be with the father of her child. Of course, after speaking to Rory and seeing Lorelai, it is clear to me that you were more a father to Rory than Christopher has ever been and ever will be. Since all of this true, I have one question for you Luke: What took you so long?"

Luke barked out a short laugh. "Fear of rejection. Your daughter has to be ready for such a big step, Mr. Gilmore."

"If you are going to be marrying my daughter, you should start calling me Richard," Richard scolded Luke. "And, yes, Lorelai has to be ready for such a thing, that is true."

"I have a question for you too, Mr.—Richard," Luke said. "Won't Mrs. Gilmore consider this as going behind her back since we aren't including her and everybody else pretty much knows?"

"Yes," Richard answered without preamble. "But that is okay. She will have to go along with it once Lorelai has said yes. After all, she knows that to make too much of a scene will make her lose her daughter and granddaughter again. She has done that too much lately."

"Is that why you are letting me do this?" Luke asked before he could stop himself. "So you won't lose Lorelai and Rory?" Luke suddenly just realized what he said. "I'm so sorry sir!"

"Call me Richard my boy, Richard," Richard corrected him again. "And to answer your very rude but not totally uncalled for question, no. I see how happy my girls are when they are with you. The only time Lorelai ever smiled like this was when I told her I was proud of her for wanting to go to Yale, of course she didn't end up going, but that's not the point. The only time Rory smiles like this is when she gets a good grade on a paper or gets a new book. Those are the times when those girls are truly happy. You do that for them Luke. You get an A in my book. I am thankful they found you. They are very lucky."

Luke cleared his throat. He felt like he did when he heard Rory's graduation speech, although his eyes weren't "watering" this time. "Thank you, Richard. Although I believe it is the other way around here. I am lucky to have found them."

"I expect to hear from a very excited Lorelai tomorrow," Richard said by way of closing. "Goodbye Luke."

"Goodbye Richard," Luke copied. After the connection was broken Luke couldn't help but whisper to himself, "Wow!"

_I have always thought Richard would be okay with Luke and Lorelai marrying, so that is what I portrayed here. If you don't think so…I'm sorry. Please review and tell me what you thought though. I don't think this is terribly out of character for Richard. Review! _


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: Again, I don't own_

_A/N: And now, Luke and Lorelai have their movie night. Enjoy! _

Luke knocked on Lorelai's door, but then just tried the door and found it was unlocked. He sighed. "Lorelai, how many times do I have to tell you to lock your door?"

"I knew it was you," Lorelai called from the kitchen.

"What if I was an ax murderer?" Luke questioned.

"Would an ax murderer call out for me?" Lorelai reasoned. "Besides, I am in the kitchen; I could grab a pot or a pan."

Luke wrinkled his forehead, "Do you even have a pot or pan in here?"

"Well, I have forks and knives," Lorelai said laughing. "And, an advantage of you staying here is that I do have a few cooking utensils. I stole them. Do I smell coffee?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "Yes, you smell your early death."

What movies did you bring?" She grabbed the bag and looked through it quickly. "I am impressed. You are learning. Casablanca and White Christmas. Oh, I want it to snow!"

Luke had to roll his eyes, but couldn't help but smile. "I'm sure you will smell it before it comes. And then you will drag me out to sit through it with you. The cold, the wetness, the crazy!"

"Oh stop whining," Lorelai admonished him. "You know you love every minute of it. We're watching White Christmas first!" Lorelai began to walk into the living room with the movies and the food.

Luke watched her walk away and patted the ring in his pocket. "I always love the crazy."

-%

Lorelai began eating her food and as soon as she was finished (about ten minutes into the movie); she scooted over to Luke and put her head on his shoulder. Luke rubbed his hand up and down her arm. About forty-five minutes later, she was sleeping peacefully. Luke continued to rub her arm and tried to understand what he did to get so lucky.

Luke suddenly felt a vibration and realized it was his phone. He quickly grabbed the phone out of his pocket an answered it quietly. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me."

"Rory?" Luke asked.

Rory rolled her eyes. "Do you have another 18 year old girl who calls your cell phone?"

"Is everything okay? Are you okay?" Luke questioned worried.

"I'm fine," Rory assured him. "But you shouldn't have said my name! Mom will know it's me now and everything will be ruined. Or is she outside now?"

"She's not outside," Luke told Rory. "She's sleeping. Why would she be outside? It's too cold."

"It's going to snow!" Rory exclaimed. "I can't believe she doesn't smell it. Oh! This is perfect! Why don't you wait to wake her up until it is snowing and then you can propose to her in the snow. It will be perfect!"

Luke shook his head, and then realized Rory couldn't see him. He felt extremely stupid and thought about how Lorelai would shake her head on the phone even though the other person couldn't see her. "I'm sure she'll wake up soon. She can't sleep through the smell of snow. In fact, if I don't shut up, she will wake up from the sound of my voice."

"I actually don't think she will smell the snow tonight," Rory mused. "After we left the diner we went shopping. We went everywhere. Hartford, New Haven, Stars Hollow and all the towns in between. She should be worn out now. When she is worn out, she doesn't wake up for anything."

"It's snow!" Luke exclaimed like it was the most obvious thing in world. "You, of all people, should know that. She is going to wake up in a few seconds, I'm sure of it."

"Maybe she will," Rory agreed. "You should still propose to her in the snow though. If I know you, and I do, you didn't pick any good movies."

"Hey now!" Luke said insulted.

"Well, what did you pick?" Rory inquired trying to prove her point.

"White Christmas and Casablanca," Luke told Rory.

"And those apply how?" Rory questioned.

"Well," Luke stalled. "We watched Casablanca on our first movie night together."

"And that applies how?" Rory repeated. "Your first movie night didn't lead to dating did it?"

"Well," Luke said, not wanting to admit that Rory was right.

Rory laughed. "See! I'm right. I keep telling you, one of these days, you will learn. The snow is the best idea. Besides, even if Mom does wake up, she will still drag you out there and you can propose to her then. Either way, you are going to be standing in the snow tonight."

Luke rolled his eyes. He hated snow, or at least, he had hated it until he associated it with Lorelai. Maybe this could be a chance to make it even better for him. "Maybe I will."

"I think you should," Rory said again.

Suddenly Luke thought of a problem. "What about Babette? I really don't want her spreading her gossip all around just yet."

"She'll be asleep," Rory said. Then Rory got an idea about how she could try to get more information on this mystery ring. "Besides, I'm sure she already knows. You couldn't have bought a ring here without her knowing."

Luke sighed. "I didn't buy the ring here, Rory."

"Where did you buy it?" Rory questioned.

"No, you missed my point. I didn't _buy_ it here," Luke repeated.

Rory finally understood. "Oh! So the place isn't important, but how you acquired the ring is."

Luke smiled. "Yes."

"Well, don't just sit there!" Rory cried. "Tell me."

Luke rolled his eyes. He should have known that was coming. "How about I just tell you tomorrow when I tell your mom. We already discussed that my talking was going to wake her up from her sleep."

"We discussed that ten minutes ago," Rory pointed out truthfully. "If she was going to wake up, she would have done so already. How about you tell me anyway?"

"How about you just wait," Luke said. "I'm not going to tell you now. I'm not telling the story twice."

Rory gasped. "There's a story!"

Luke sighed exasperatedly. These girls were going to be the death of him. "I'm hanging up now. Goodbye Rory. I love you."

Rory smiled. She couldn't help it. Every time she heard Luke say something sweet like that it made that smile appear. "I know. I love you as well."

"Bye Rory," Luke repeated.

It was Rory's turn to roll her eyes, "One of these days I will get you to say I know back to me and then you won't be able to stop."

"Bye Rory," Luke repeated again, this time with finality.

Rory hung up her phone shaking her head and Lane had to ask why she was shaking her head.

"Well, one day when I was in the diner recently Luke just up and told me that he loved me," Rory began.

"Luke!" Lane exclaimed. "Luke Danes? Mr. Stoic Monosyllabic Grumpy Diner Man Luke Danes said that? Are we talking about the same person?"

Rory had to laugh at that. "Yes, Lane we are. He can be quite sweet sometimes. Anyway, he said that and I just looked at him. I finally said, 'Luke, thanks, but you didn't have to say that, I knew.' He smiled at me. Then I continued with, 'Here's something I bet you don't know though, I love you.' He shook his head and said he kind of knew. That was the end of our conversation, but ever since then I have always said I know to him after he says he loves me, but he will never say I know back to me!" Rory explained.

"Well, it's Luke," Lane pointed out quickly. "I don't think he will ever do that. He just isn't that kind of guy. Of course, when he is with the Gilmore Girls, a whole different man is present. How is that?"

Rory just smiled at her friend. "We tend to have that effect on people. Anyway, we need to figure out how he got that ring. So, if he didn't buy it, which is what I gathered, where could he have gotten it?"

"He could have saved it?" Lane guessed.

"Saved it?" Rory questioned. "Why would he need to get an engagement ring? I'm sure he wasn't going to use the same one he used on Nicole, if she even got one."

"Well, the whole town was sure he was going to marry Rachel. Ms. Patty and Babette even said he probably had a ring for her."

Rory shook her head. "That's almost the same thing as using the one for Nicole. He wouldn't give Mom one that was meant for another girl. From what I have heard, he has never loved another woman as much as he loved Mom, not even Rachel."

"I have another idea then," Lane announced. "Doesn't Liz sell jewelry? Hasn't she given Luke pieces to give to Lorelai?"

"Yes," Rory agreed. "But, her pieces have been made with turquoise or emerald. Where would she get a diamond?"

"Again, you have a point," Lane said. "I'm out; you come up with some ideas."

"Honestly, I don't have any," Rory admitted. "I guess I'll have to just wait until he tells me. Although I wish I could figure it out myself!"

_In the next chapter, Luke proposes…and we find out what Lorelai says! Let's hope she says yes…if she doesn't, there could be some serious drama…if she does, there could be some mama drama…hmmm…stay tuned! Oh…and review!_


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything…except my own crazy ideas!_

_ A/N: And the proposal finally happens! How does Luke propose? What does Lorelai say? Read to find out! Enjoy!_

Luke hadn't watched any of the movie. The credits were now rolling and he was trying to figure out how he was going to get up and switch the movie without waking Lorelai. He then wondered why he wanted to switch the movie anyway. After all, all these movies were for her. He was never one to watch movies.

He decided to look outside from his position on the couch to see if he could gather anything about the snow. When he looked he noticed snowflakes falling softly. He was by far amazed, although he didn't know why. The Gilmore Girls did have the nose. He looked down and noticed that Lorelai was still sleeping. He thought about it for half a second and then realized Rory was right. This was the best chance he was going to have to propose; it couldn't get any better than this. This was perfect.

"Lorelai," Luke softly whispered. "Lorelai."

"What?" Lorelai grumbled. She never liked being woken up when she was sleeping.

"Do you smell that?"

"Smell what?" Suddenly her head shot up from his shoulder. "Snow! It's going to…it is snowing! How did I miss this? Come on, we have to go stand in it!"

Luke smiled at her antics, but did not smile when she ran out the door without her coat on her body. She was going to get sick! Luke did what he always did. He complained when she ran out the door and then took a while to button up his coat. He grabbed her coat off the hook and walked outside with it in his arms. He wrinkled his nose when the snow hit his face. He never liked snow. It was cold and wet.

"Put this on, please," Luke said when he was standing next to Lorelai. "All we need is for you to get sick."

"I'll be fine," Lorelai said, but she put the coat on anyway. "Don't you just love the snow? It's magical!"

"It's cold, frozen drops of water from the sky," Luke told her. "It doesn't have any special power."

"Yes it does!" Lorelai insisted. "The best moments of my life, except Rory's birth since she was born in October, have happened when it snows. My best birthday, my first kiss, Rory's first steps, everything. Everything that has meant anything to me has happened when it snows."

Luke smiled. "Well, in that case, I have a question to ask you."

Lorelai's eyes grew wide when he got down on one knee in the cold snow that was already sticking to the ground. She took a step back instinctively. "What are you doing?"

"Will you just stand still!" Luke exclaimed as he moved forward a bit, still on his knee. They both had to smile at the implications that those sentences had, taking them back to their first kiss.

"Lorelai Victoria Gilmore, I love you so much. I love you more than I have loved any person. I have been taking care of you and your daughter since I met you. Since the day you came into my diner on that very first day I knew you were something special and I knew that you would be different than any person I have ever met. After the first week, I knew that you were beautiful and you were an amazing mother. After the first month, I knew that I loved you. I still love you and I will never stop loving you," Luke pulled the ring box out of his pocket and opened it. "Lorelai Gilmore, will you marry me?"

Lorelai swallowed. Her coffee provider, turned Mr. Fix-It and best friend, turned lover had just proposed to her. She would be crazy to say yes, then again, she would be crazy to say no. She stared at the ring and noticed how beautiful it was. She also felt the tears gather in her eyes. She was so mesmerized, she didn't realize she hadn't said anything yet.

"Lorelai," Luke interrupted her thoughts. "Please say something."

"Oh!" Lorelai exclaimed. "Yes!"

Luke released a breath he didn't know he had been holding. "Thank God!"

Lorelai tilted her head. "Didn't you know that's what I would say?"

Luke shrugged. "I had only hoped. I never know what you are going to do, Crazy Lady."

Lorelai smiled and realized that he had a point. "That is true my friend, but this is a definite yes. Now are you planning on putting that ring on my finger and kissing me or are you just going to leave me hanging here?"

Luke smiled, stood up and slid the ring on her finger. He picked her up, spun her in a circle and relished in the sound of her laughter. He then reconnected her feet with the ground and kissed her passionately. He felt her tongue on his lips and he opened his mouth to her and engaged in a battle of tongues.

As Lorelai was kissing him, she faintly registered that the ring on her finger was a perfect fit. She felt Luke move his mouth down her jaw and she choked out, "Inside," before she lost herself in sensation.

_And no, the next chapter won't begin in an M scene…sorry, but I do not write them. The next chapter will be a bit of a filler…but the story of the mysterious ring is coming soon. Please review and tell me what you thought of this chapter! _


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: If you don't know by now…check earlier chapters. Or my pen name…it does in no way resemble Amy Sherman-Pallandino…now does it?_

_ A/N: And Lorelai tells Rory about the proposal and Luke and Rory have a serious talk about good things! Enjoy!_

"That was amazing!" Lorelai exclaimed after putting on her nightgown and jumping back into bed. "We should get engaged every night!"

Luke smiled and rolled his eyes. "I'm not sure Rory would appreciate spending all her nights while she is home with Lane."

"Rory!" Lorelai cried. "I have to tell her! I can't believe I forgot!"

"Lorelai, it's awfully late," Luke reminded her. "She's probably asleep."

"I don't care!" Lorelai declared. "I'm sure she will want to know." With that, Lorelai picked up her phone and began dialing.

"Unless you have a very good reason for calling me, I am hanging up right now," Rory groaned. She had checked the caller ID and knew it was her mom. She had been expecting this call but was expecting it to come at a more reasonable hour. Then again, this was her mom.

"Child of mine, is that any way to treat your newly engaged mother?" Lorelai questioned.

"You should check the clock. It is 2:00 in the morning. This hour should not exist, much less should we be up at such a time," Rory grumbled. "I believe I can treat you any way I like when you wake me up from my sleep."

"Did you not hear my earlier sentence?" Lorelai asked, curious as to why Rory was not more excited. "Your newly engaged mother."

"I heard mom," Rory confirmed. "It's just really hard to get excited about something I knew was coming and it is incredibly late."

Lorelai wrinkled her forehead, she was very confused. "Something you knew was coming?"

"Yes," Rory said. "Luke asked me this afternoon if he could ask you to marry him and I knew he was doing it tonight. I promise, tomorrow, when I am more awake I will jump up and down with joy."

Lorelai felt a smile break out on her face. "Luke asked you if he could ask me? There was no plan to give me decaf coffee? I can't believe he asked you!"

Rory couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sure he'll love that I just told you that. While we are on this subject, when are you going to tell Grandma and Grandpa?"

"Um, never," Lorelai told her daughter.

"Yeah right, you know you have to tell them," Rory reprimanded her mom. "Sometimes I wonder who the child is here mother."

"I suppose you're right," Lorelai conceded. "I'll call them now."

"Mom!" Rory exclaimed. "I told you to look at the clock! We know Grandpa will be okay with this marriage, but even he will be mad if you call now. Don't you want to marry Luke?"

"Of course I do!" Lorelai cried.

"Then you know you have to do this on Grandma's terms and not get on her bad side," Rory said. "Just wait until tomorrow to call them. Do it when I come home. You can use me as your buffer."

"What time do you plan to be home tomorrow, loin fruit?" Lorelai asked.

Rory wrinkled her nose. "I thought I asked you to stop calling me that. It brings gross pictures to mind. And probably around eleven. Speaking of gross pictures, please make sure that everything that should be covered by clothes is covered when I get home."

"Well, that certainly had dirty implications," Lorelai accused.

"That was my intention," Rory admitted. "I am not naïve, and I know why it took you so long to call me. Besides, I grew up with you as my role model. What do you expect?"

"Well you are so unlike me in every other way," Lorelai said.

Rory laughed. "Oh come on, I am so your daughter and you know it! I'll see you tomorrow Mom. Please don't scar me any more than you already have. Congratulations!"

-%

"Hello?" Rory called while sticking her head in the door of her house.

"Kitchen," Luke called.

Rory smiled when she walked in and noticed her mom was nowhere to be found. "I suppose Mom is still sleeping."

Luke nodded his confirmation.

"I think I'm going to like having you as my stepfather. I'll get free breakfast all the time," Rory teased. "But Mom might want to go to Luke's."

"But I am Luke," Luke argued.

"I don't understand it either," Rory said. "But we both know she has her things."

"Well, she is going to have to accept this," Luke decided. "I have this morning off and we're not going to Luke's, we're going to eat breakfast here, because this is the same stuff I make at the diner, I'm cooking and I _am _Luke."

Rory just laughed. "Lovely mini-rant there. By the way, thank you for being fully clothed." Rory smiled at the patented eye roll that came from that statement. Rory paused for a second, but then plunged ahead. "You know, ever since Mom and I met you, I've always felt that there should've been something between you two. You were always so nice to me when I came into the diner, you even gave me coffee. Although you wouldn't give me more than one small cup before I turned thirteen. You came to my caterpillar's funeral, you made me mashed potatoes when I was sick, more recently you made me a coffee cake, you congratulated me on getting into all my colleges and helped me move into my dorm room.

"After you came to that funeral and made my mashed potatoes, I was still really young, and although I was smart for my age, I didn't really understand why my dad was never here. Nor did I really understand the whole baby making process. I asked my mom if she was absolutely positive Chris was my dad. I told her I thought maybe you could be my dad, since you were always here. Mom said she was for sure that Chris was my dad, but I could pretend to myself if I wanted, so I did. For the longest time, I pretended you were my dad, although I never told her or you.

"Since that is the case, well, I was wondering if maybe, since you and Mom are getting married and all…well, do you think I could call you Dad? Or would that freak you out completely? I mean, it was just something I was thinking, after all, I haven't really got a chance to call Chris dad, and he never really fit that title or was made for it anyway, and you were," Rory concluded her monologue.

Luke just stared at Rory, unable to form any words. Rory noticed Luke's stare and tried to backtrack. "I mean, it was just a suggestion. I mean, if you don't want me to call you dad, I can just stick with Luke. It has worked for the last ten years; it will be fine now as well."

"Rory," Luke started. "I am okay with you calling me dad, if that is really what you want to do. Unfortunately, or fortunately, however you choose to look at it, Christopher will always be your father, and you will always have a bond with him that you will never have with me. I just don't want you to start something you might regret later."

"How can I have a bond with him that I don't have with you?" Rory questioned. "He was never here long enough for me to form a bond. The only thing of his I have is some DNA. Trust me, I will never regret calling you dad, if you don't have any objections, that is."

Luke smiled at Rory. "I have no problems with it. If you want to know a little secret, sometimes I even pretended you were my daughter. You are everything I wanted in a little girl. I love you."

Rory pressed her lips together and tried not to cry. That was something she never knew about Luke; him pretending she was his daughter that is. It was incredibly sweet. "I know. I love you."

"I guess you should go see if your mom is awake now. This breakfast is almost ready," Luke told her.

Rory rolled her eyes. "One of these days, one of these days you will say you know. I'm going to go wake Mom up like she did to me last night." She walked out of the kitchen, but came right back. "Do you have coffee ready?"

Luke got the pot out and began pouring. "This stuff will kill you."

"Yes, yes, I know. Will you pour two cups?" Rory requested. "If I'm going to wake Mom up, the least I can do is have coffee, especially two cups of your first pot of coffee. Your first pot is always the best."

Luke handed her the cups. "One of these days, you both will realize how unhealthy this is."

"We have lived this long," Rory contradicted. "I think we will survive a little longer. Thanks…Dad."

Luke and Rory both had identical smiles on their face when they parted. Rory with the joy of finally calling someone dad and meaning it, knowing that this man was going to be a dad. Luke with the joy of finally having someone call him dad, and knowing that he was going to do everything possible to fill that role.

_ Sorry, I thought you were going to get the ring story today…but I would have had to combine like 4 chapters for that…and I already combined two. So…tomorrow, all the suspense will be gone. Now…review! _


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: I've said it already._

_ A/N: And now…the story of the ring! I know you all have been waiting for this, I hope it lives up to your expectations! Enjoy! _

Rory walked into her mom's room and set the coffee down on the nightstand. She thought about the best way to wake her mom up, or the most annoying. She finally had it. She knew how dangerous this was, but also knew it was payback as well.

Rory sat down on Luke's "side" of the bed and then began bouncing up and down, hard. She also began screaming, "You're engaged! You're engaged! You're engaged!"

Lorelai woke up quickly and reached out to stop her daughter. "I'm going to kill you!"

"You woke me up last night," Rory reminded her. "Besides, I'm excited. You're engaged!"

"Coffee!" Lorelai groaned.

"Aren't you glad I know you so well?" Rory said smiling. "It's on your nightstand."

"Too far," Lorelai complained.

"Oh Mom," Rory complained back to her. She got up and gave Lorelai her coffee. "I don't know how you survived while I was in college this semester. It's a good thing you are going to have a husband soon!"

Lorelai took a deep breath and smiled. "I still can't believe he asked me!"

"Can I see the ring?" Rory questioned. "Oh! It's perfect!" The ring was very simple, but very much something Lorelai would like. The diamond wasn't too big in the middle and was set off by the two smaller diamonds that were on the side of the middle diamond. Completed with the gold band, it was the perfect engagement ring.

"Mom!" Rory squealed. "You're getting married!"

"I know!" Lorelai cried. She had drained her cup of coffee and now was standing and jumping up and down with Rory.

"I saw Luke downstairs, fully clothed thank God, and he said breakfast was almost ready," Rory informed Lorelai when they both had tired of jumping and had collapsed on the bed. "By the way, I also asked him, that since you two are getting married, if I could call him dad. He gave me a mini speech about how he wanted to make sure I was doing this for the right reasons and how he didn't want me to do something I would regret, but I told him I was fully sure about all this."

"Rory," Lorelai said. "I know you never had a bond with Chris, and you probably have heard me berate him a little too much, but that doesn't mean you should just disregard him as your dad."

"Mom!" Rory exclaimed. "You have always said the only thing that ties you to Chris is me, so why can't you be the only thing that ties me to him. That and some DNA that I would rather not even have. Don't you remember when I was little you told me I could pretend Luke was my dad? Why has that changed now?"

"Well, now you had a chance to meet your dad," Lorelai began.

"And see what a jerk he was," Rory interrupted. "He was never here and he was only my father, only the person that gave me some DNA. He was never really my dad, the person who I could count on always. I'm sure about this Mom. Please, this is my decision. I've thought about it a lot, and I'm positive."

Lorelai shrugged, "If you're positive then I am proud of you, for recognizing that Chris gave you DNA and that is all. I still think you should try to get to know your father though, sweets."

Rory thought about it for a few seconds, "Maybe. But he has to come to me and convince me that he has changed. I'm not going to reach out to him; I've done enough of that."

Lorelai smiled at her daughter. "We're not going to go to Luke's, but we are going to eat Luke's breakfast. Let's go.

-%

Rory and Lorelai walked downstairs still chatting about the engagement and other things.

"Well, you know we have to go shopping again today," Lorelai brought up to her daughter.

"We just went yesterday!" Rory argued.

"I know, but we were shopping for regular stuff," Lorelai reasoned. "Today we can shop for wedding stuff!"

Rory smiled and agreed. Luke jumped into their conversation, "How about we eat some breakfast."

"Yay!" Lorelai cried. "And what has Lukey made for us today."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Don't call me that. Bacon, sausage, waffles and a cheese omelet that you two can split."

"What are you eating?" Rory asked. "I doubt you found something healthy in this house of ours. In fact, I'm surprised you found any food at all."

"The food is from Doose's," Luke admitted. "I made myself scrambled eggs with egg whites only. I would have eaten some cereal, but there was none. There was also no milk."

"And that surprises you?" Lorelai questioned.

"I guess not," Luke agreed.

"Okay, so I saw mom's ring upstairs and now I want to hear the story," Rory demanded.

"Story?" Lorelai inquired, interested.

"Apparently there's a story attached to your ring, mom. He didn't buy it here, and Lane and I couldn't figure out where he could have gotten it. We knew he didn't save it because he wouldn't have used the same one for Rachel and especially not Nicole," Rory said with a disgusted tone in her voice. She never liked that woman; she was a suit, not Luke's type at all. "We also knew Liz didn't make it because we didn't think she could get a diamond. So now I want the story."

"Oooh, yes," Lorelai squealed. "The story."

Luke couldn't help but smile at their excitement. "Okay, I guess it's story time. Here goes: when I was a baby, I loved to sit on my mother's lap and play with her jewelry. I loved her necklaces, her bracelets, her earrings and mostly her rings. Of course, the only one she wore was her engagement ring and I loved it. When I was older, about five, I would always ask her if I could hold it and look at it. She always let me look at it, but never let me hold it.

"After she died, I couldn't look at it anymore. I knew my dad did something with it, but I never searched for it, I just couldn't. One day, when I was about fifteen, I found it in my father's drawer in his office. I had forgotten how beautiful it was. After that, I continued to sneak up and look at it. I'm not sure if my dad ever knew I continued to look at it, but if he did, he didn't tell me.

"I had been looking for an engagement ring for Rachel for a long time. I, of course, was looking in Hartford and Litchfield so the town wouldn't catch wind of it. She managed to never catch wind of it either. I had finally found one, and I hid it in my sock drawer."

"So incredibly predictable," Rory sighed.

"Yep, every man hides the ring in his sock drawer," Lorelai agreed.

Noticing the look on Luke's face Rory stepped in, "Sorry, go ahead with the story."

"Anyway," Luke continued. "It was in my sock drawer, and I was waiting for the right time to ask her. During this time though, my dad kept getting sicker and sicker, until all my time was devoted to him and I had almost forgotten about the ring. One day before he died he showed me my mom's ring. He showed it to me and said, 'Your mom wanted me to give this to you. She wanted you to use it. I know you have already bought a ring for Rachel. Since that is the case, I want you to give this ring to the girl you want to spend the rest of your life with and not Rachel.' Therefore, that ring on your finger, Lorelai, is my mom's."

Lorelai gasped. She just stared at it, but couldn't bring herself to say anything. Who knew?

"Wait," Rory said, cutting into their little moment. "If that was supposed to be used with the woman you were going to spend the rest of your life with, why didn't you give it to Rachel, or even to…Nicole."

Luke shook his head. "That isn't what my dad said. He told me to give it to the woman I _wanted_ to spend the rest of my life with, which is why they didn't get it. I didn't want to spend my life with either one of them." He turned his head to look at Lorelai. "It was always you."

Rory's eyes got wide and she suddenly knew where this would be headed. "Okay, so I am going to go in the living room for two minutes exactly, to let you two get that look out of your eyes. I'll give you a warning when you have thirty seconds left so you know. You only have two minutes, so please keep everything covered!"

"Dirty," Lorelai gasped.

"Yep," Rory confirmed. "Very dirty. And I don't want it happening in my kitchen! Two minutes!"

_Yeah, most of you guessed where the ring came from, so I doubt it was a surprise, but I hope the story that came with it was a little bit entertaining! I hope you liked it and tomorrow, Lorelai and Rory will tell Richard and Emily…and we finally get to see some of this drama that has been looming. Review! _


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: Nope, don't own. _

_A/N: Lorelai calls Emily and Richard and they both have their own reaction. Lorelai asks Richard a very important question…what does she ask and how does he answer? Enjoy!_

"Mom, we really have to call Grandma," Rory reminded her mother. "Luke has been gone for thirty minutes and we still have to go shopping, because you want to do that as well."

"Why don't we call them after we get back from the mall," Lorelai tried.

"It will be too late," Rory protested. "Right now. Come on, you know Grandpa won't have a problem with it, you can talk to him first, and I am right here."

Lorelai sighed, but sat down beside Rory. They put the phone on speaker and listened to the ringing, waiting for a maid to answer. "Gilmore residence."

"Hi, could I speak to Richard Gilmore?" Lorelai asked. "This is his daughter."

"Lorelai!" Richard exclaimed when he picked up the phone. "How are you, my dear?"

"Um, fine Dad," Lorelai responded, bewildered.

"Hi Grandpa!" Rory said, making her presence known.

"Rory! You're there also?"

"Yes, the phone is on speaker."

"Should I put our phone on speaker and get Emily in here?"

"No!" Lorelai and Rory cried in unison.

"We wanted to talk to you alone first," Rory said, trying to make up for their shouting.

"Well, okay," Richard agreed. "Talk."

Rory looked at her mother. Finally Lorelai took a deep breath and began to speak. "As you know, Luke and I have been dating for quite some time now. Last night, he asked me to marry him and we are now engaged."

Richard smiled. "Wonderful! When is the wedding?"

"We haven't exactly set a date yet," Rory jumped in quickly. "We wanted to know when you and Grandma would be on vacation, so we could set the date around that. We were thinking sometime in the summer, May, June, July or August?"

"Well, Emily and I are going to on vacation this year in June and July," Richard informed them.

"How about May?" Lorelai negotiated.

"The end of May," Rory said, jumping in again. She wanted to be finished with her first year of college. "How do we feel about May 25th?"

Lorelai nodded at her daughter while Richard agreed.

"Of course," Rory amended. "We will have to talk with Luke, but I'm sure that will be fine."

"Well, we will definitely be there," Richard promised. "I will be no matter what."

Lorelai looked at Rory with a nervous look on her face and Rory nodded to her. Rory knew what Lorelai wanted to ask and she knew Richard would take it well. "Well, I was wondering, Dad, since you are planning on being there and all, well, do you think you could walk me down the aisle?"

Richard swallowed, a bit overcome with emotion. He never thought his only daughter would ask him that sacred question. Now that she had, there was only one thing he could think to say. "Lorelai, I would be honored."

"Thanks, Daddy," Lorelai whispered.

"How are we going to tell Grandma about this?" Rory questioned, not wanting to ruin their moment, but knowing this problem was looming. "I mean, if we pretend as though we didn't know, she will say that Luke has no morals and doesn't know the proper procedure. If we pretend like just you know Grandpa, she will say that Luke doesn't know Mom, because he didn't ask me. If we just pretend like I know, she will say Luke didn't do it the proper way. And if we tell the truth and tell her we both know, she will say we all went behind her back and Luke should have made sure it was okay with everyone, especially her."

Richard cleared his throat. "You have a point. I think it is better for her to think Luke has morals, so we should at least tell her that we knew, that way she knows he was proper."

"Do we have to do this?" Lorelai asked meekly. "Couldn't you just tell her, Dad?"

"I could," Richard agreed. "It would be so much better coming from you though. She will appreciate it more."

Lorelai sighed, knowing she had to admit defeat. "Okay."

Lorelai took another deep breath and Rory smiled at her. Rory also put her hand in Lorelai's and squeezed. She left her hand in her mother's when Emily came on the phone.

"Hello Lorelai," Emily greeted. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this call? I see you talked to your father first."

"Hi grandma," Rory said, again wanting to make her presence known, ignoring her grandma's insinuation.

"Well, hello Rory," Emily said. "Am I talking to you?"

"No no," Rory clarified. "We are on speaker phone. And Mom wanted to tell you something, didn't you Mom?"

"I did," Lorelai agreed. "Do you want to hear it, Mom?"

"Well, I suppose," Emily said, not very enthusiastically.

"Well, as you know, Luke and I have been dating for quite some time now and last night he asked me to marry him and we are now engaged," Lorelai said, rushing. She was met with silence. "Mom, say something please!"

"I believe Richard and I will have a function on the date of your wedding, but we will be sure to send a nice gift," Emily said coldly.

"But Mom, you don't even know the date yet," Lorelai argued.

"And grandpa said he would come," Rory argued as well. "He even agreed to walk Mom down the aisle."

"He has no right to condone this marriage," Emily mused more to herself than to her listeners. "I will have to speak to him about that."

"I don't think he'll change his mind," Rory informed her grandma. "He seemed pretty set about it." She was planning to say more about the "condoning of the marriage" but Emily didn't give her time.

"Well, one of us will have to make an appearance at that function," Emily decided. "Therefore, I guess it will be me."

"Oh, Grandma, I bet you could get out of it," Rory coaxed. "After all, it is your only daughter's wedding and besides, we can change the date, it isn't even truly set yet. We have a tentative date on May 25th, but tell us what date works better for you and we will change it."

"Yeah, Mom," Lorelai agreed. "We can change it to make it work better for you. I really want you to be there."

"I just can't fit it in my schedule," Emily asked harshly.

Lorelai's eyes popped, as did Rory's and she quickly tried to do something to make that last statement untrue. "Well, I mean, your only daughter is getting married and we thought you would want to see that. We thought you would want to help her get dressed in the morning, fix her hair, everything that mother's do."

"That would mean I would be condoning this marriage to this man," Emily declared. "She should be marrying Christopher. Rory, I don't understand why you are so okay with this. I mean, Christopher is your father."

"I agree, Grandma," Rory said. "Christopher is my father but he was never really here to be my dad. He gave me some DNA, but that is all."

"That doesn't mean your mother has to marry some diner man," Emily spat.

"Luke," Rory whispered. "His name is Luke."

"See," Emily started directing her statement at Lorelai. "She isn't even calling her own father dad. She called him Christopher. It looks as if you both are trying to pass this diner man as Rory's father."

Before Lorelai could say anything, Rory jumped in again angry this time. "At least he was here, Grandma. Luke was here and he did everything Chris never did. He did everything a dad was supposed to do. He came to my caterpillar's funeral; he helped take care of me when I was sick. He put Dean in a headlock when he broke up with me because Dean was going to come into the diner and I was in there. He came to my graduation, which by the way my own father did not come to, and he helped me move into my dorm. He gets excited when I come home and always tries to see me at some point when I am here. He asks me how school is going and is excited if I am and is sad if I am. He understands how a dad is supposed to act and fills that role well."

"Your mother could have let you have that from the beginning. Chris offered to marry her and she declined. I bet she never told you that," Emily argued, trying to turn Rory against this marriage about which she seemed so excited.

"Actually she did," Rory retorted, determined to make her grandmother see why Luke was so important to her. "They were so young though. They were sixteen. I am eighteen and I don't even want to think about getting married yet. There is so much I want to do, so much that Mom wanted to do."

"What could she do?" Emily questioned. "She had a baby then. She should have settled down with the father of her child."

"She never told Chris not to see me. He could have come any time he wanted!" Rory cried, feeling tears build up in her eyes. She was not going to give her grandma the satisfaction though, not now. "He sent letters telling us that when he got settled somewhere he would send us an address. He sent me Christmas and birthday cards, three months too late that gave us a phone number but never an address. I was convinced he thought my birthday was in December. When I tried to call the phone number and tell him that he was wrong on my birthday, the line had been disconnected. I have heard that so much '_The number you are calling has been disconnected_' until finally I just stopped trying. He was never here Grandma, he never cared.

"How can you be so insensitive to want my mother with someone like that. Someone who only used me to try to get close to her. Seeing me got him to see her. He has never grown up from that sixteen year old boy. He thought that getting on my good side would get him on her good side and then he could just dump me and focus on her. It has always been a package deal with us. If you get one, you get the other. Luke knows that and has always completely respected that.

"Speaking of, if Mom decided to dump Luke right now and give Chris another try, not to mention we don't know where he is right now, I probably wouldn't speak to her. Luke loves us Grandma. Why don't you understand that? I know that the perfect image would be for Mom to be married to the father of her child, but Luke could easily pass as my father. He has dark hair, he has blue eyes and he so obviously loves us both. We have the perfect image right here. We have a man who loves us both very much and would do anything to make us happy. Too bad that doesn't cut it in your high society world. Grandpa understands and that's why he is coming to the wedding. If you can't understand this, then we don't want you at the wedding. Good-bye Grandmother."

Rory took speaker phone off loudly, took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a minute. After she had composed herself, she kept her eyes shut but whispered, "Did I just do that?"

Lorelai let go of her hand and whispered back, "I'm afraid you did, Kid."

"Don't answer your cell for a while," Rory joked, but then turned her full attention to her mom. She opened her eyes and tried to study her mom, which was hard since her mom wouldn't look at her. "Are you okay, Mom?" Rory knew those things Emily said had to hurt her mom. Also, Rory had said some things that brought up bad memories for her mom, but the difference was Rory's things had to be said in order to get her grandma to see the full picture.

"I'm fine," Lorelai lied. "Why don't you call Luke and make sure May 25th is okay with him and I'll go get changed. I'll come down when I'm finished and then we can go shopping for…go shopping."

Rory noticed the pause. "Are you sure you want to go today? We can wait and do it another day."

"Call Luke and I'll come down when I'm ready," Lorelai repeated. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Rory didn't think her mom was ready for a day of shopping, after all that Rory didn't even want to go herself, but she knew better than to argue right now. "Okay."

_Intense chapter, huh? And the Emily drama has started! How will it turn out? Will she change her mind and decide to come to the wedding? And what about Lorelai? How does she feel after this call…what is Luke going to say to Rory? So many questions! I guess you'll just have to keep reading…oh, but you'd better review if you want answers to the questions! Review! _


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer: I don't own. _

_A/N: Rory talks to Luke about the date of the wedding. A bit of a filler chapter, but hopefully you still like it. Enjoy! _

Rory picked up her cell phone to call Luke. As she dialed the number she tried to decide how she was going to get her mom to cancel their shopping trip and just stay home. That would be better for both of them today.

"Luke's," Luke answered his ringing phone.

"What do you think of May 25th?" Rory asked, forgoing hello altogether.

"Well, I think it should come in May, before the 26th but after the 24th and nowhere else," Luke deadpanned.

Rory laughed. "Thank you. I needed that laugh. But I mean for your wedding day."

"It's fine," Luke said, distracted. "Look, I'm really busy here. Just set the date for whenever. Have it when your grandparents want. You know the town will come to the wedding no matter when it is."

"We can't just do that," Rory argued. "You have to get a best man and groomsmen and make sure they can make it that day. And don't forget Liz and TJ. You want them there too, don't you?"

Luke groaned. "Just set it for when your grandparents can do it and then I'll ask anyone I want. Besides, I have a feeling my groomsman is already picked for me. Sookie is going to be a bridesmaid so Jackson has to be on my side, right?"

"It would help," Rory admitted. "Well, I guess since you don't care, we will do May 25th. Grandpa said that was fine."

"Wonderful," Luke said. "Now I need to go and help—wait, your grandfather? What about your grandmother? Doesn't she get a say in the date as well?"

"No," Rory said. "She isn't coming."

"She's not coming!" Luke almost shouted. "Why not? Why didn't you change the date so she could?"

Rory rolled her eyes. "That wasn't the issue. She refused to come because she didn't want to, and I quote, 'condone this marriage.' We tried as hard as we could, but she wouldn't change her mind."

"Ceaser, just handle it for a few more minutes would you!" She heard Luke bark and then some rustling and then pure quiet.

"Where are you?" Rory asked.

"In the storeroom," Luke responded. "How is your mom?"

"I thought you were busy," Rory reminded him, hoping he wouldn't care. She knew he wouldn't though. He cared too much about them to do that.

"Ceaser will just have to deal. How is your mom?" Luke repeated.

Rory gave a little half smile at his concern. "She's…well, she says she's fine, but I know she isn't. No one would be after such a scene. That phone call with Grandma, well, it was more than I even imagined. If I had known it was going to be so bad, I wouldn't have made her call. I just thought Grandma would want to know. I have never heard her sound so mean. I mean, she thinks all that stuff doesn't matter to Mom, but Mom cares about what Grandma says, even though she pretends like she doesn't. I got so mad I even yelled at Grandma. I told Mom not to answer her cell for a while, because I know Grandma will call and give her a lecture about how she should have raised her daughter better and how her daughter should have more respect for her elders, especially her grandmother. Mom doesn't need that right now."

"Rory," Luke began hesitantly. "Your grandparents pay for Yale, don't they?"

"Yeah," Rory said, not seeing what this had to do with anything.

"Well, I want you to get a good education and I know your mom does as well. We don't want to do anything that might make your grandparents not want to pay anymore. Your mom and I could wait to get married until after you get out of Yale," Luke suggested.

"I don't think so!" Rory exclaimed. "You are not having one of those ridiculous three year engagements. The town wouldn't stand for that and neither will I! Don't worry, they won't stop paying for it. Grandpa is perfectly fine with this marriage, and ultimately he will write the check. Under all that resentment, Grandma does want me to get a good education. As long as I continue to show up at Friday Night Dinner they will continue paying. And not only that, Grandma has to have something about which she can brag to her high society friends. If she can't brag about this marriage, unfortunately, she has to brag about my college. She isn't going to jeopardize her bragging rights. You and Mom are getting married on May 25th. Now call Liz, TJ, and I assume Jess for your best man and make sure they are all okay with that date."

"But, Rory, your college is the most important thing," Luke tried to argue.

"May 25th!" Rory repeated, refusing to listen to him. "Call them!"

"Are you and your mom going shopping later?" Luke inquired, deciding to drop the college subject. If he had learned anything from the Gilmore Girls is was that when their mind was made up, nobody would change it.

Rory took a deep breath. "Hopefully not. I don't want to, and I know Mom doesn't want to, but she has to put up the illusion that she is fine. I am the daughter, therefore she has never let me worry about any problems. I know all this grandma stuff must have worn her out, so I am going to jump on that and try to get her to agree to staying home and relaxing in front of the TV with lots of junk food. Of course, I need to go to Doose's. And I would need you to make us some actual lunch. How do you feel about that?"

"Making you a death meal?" Luke asked, twisting her words. "I would just love to do that."

Rory had to laugh again. "Great. Hopefully I'll be there in about 15 minutes to get it. If I won't be coming, I'll call, but as of right now, get started on those artery clogging, fat filled meals."

"I love to know I am having some effect on your eating habits," Luke said sarcastically.

"You are," Rory assured him. "Did you not hear me say artery clogging, fat filled?"

"But it doesn't make you not eat them," Luke pointed out truthfully.

"Oh well," Rory said. "If it's going to kill us, all I can say is: what a way to go!"

Luke groaned. "Aw jeez."

Rory was still laughing when she hung up the phone. She sobered quickly when she realized that her mom was still not downstairs. Actually, she hadn't heard the water for the shower start. Something was wrong here.

"Mom," Rory called wandering up the stairs. "Mom?" When she got no answer, she slowly pushed open the bedroom door. When she saw her mom lying on her bed facing away from the door, she knew she was hurt worse than she originally thought.

"Mom!" Rory cried. "Are you alright?"

Lorelai gasped and sat up quickly, trying to wipe the evidence of any tears off of her face. She was not going to let Rory think Emily had hurt her. "I'm fine sweets. I just…well…"

"Mom, we are not going shopping today!" Rory decided. "I owe you a movie night and we are going to do that now. I'll go to Doose's and get snacks and to Luke's and get lunch and then we will get into our pajamas and have a movie night right up here in your room."

"Rory, it's not even 3:00," Lorelai argued. "We can't have a movie night so early."

"We invented them," Rory countered. "We can have them any time we like."

"Well…" Lorelai stalled.

"Come on, it will be great," Rory coaxed her mom. "We can watch Casablanca and An Affair to Remember and the Godfathers and Sophia dying over and over again."

Lorelai sighed. "Okay."

"Great!" Rory cried. "I'll go get the food and be back in 15 minutes max. You get your pajamas on and get the TV and movies ready. We'll watch An Affair to Remember first, or even The Bells of St. Mary's."

"Why sad ones?" Lorelai had to ask. There had been enough sad in their morning already.

Rory looked her mom straight in the eyes, "So we can cry and blame it on the movie."

Lorelai smiled, grateful that she had such a wonderful daughter. "I love you, Kid."

Rory smiled back at her mom. "I love you too, Mom. I'll be back soon."

And five hours later when Luke decided to close the diner and check on them, that was how he found them. They were sitting on Lorelai's bed, munching on junk food, watching Miss Congeniality, but it wasn't having the desired effect of making them laugh.

Luke looked at them for two seconds and made his decision. "Rory, move all that junk food."

Rory looked at him funny, but she did as he asked. When the bed was clear, Luke climbed on it, in the middle of the two of them. Rory smiled at him and whispered her thanks. He put his arms around each of them and in thirty minutes they were laughing at the movie. Thirty minutes after that, they were both sound asleep, using Luke as their pillow.

_ The next chapter will be up tomorrow. I hope you liked this one…even though it is a bit of the let down after the intensity of the last one. As I said, I hope you liked this one…review and let me know! Please! _


	11. Chapter 11

_Disclaimer: I don't own the characters!_

_A/N: This is basically a filler chapter, and a chance to get in some Luke/Lorelai loving. I felt like there wasn't enough in the story…so I tried to get some in this chapter. I hope you like it…enjoy!_

Over the next few months, in between trying on wedding gowns, trying out cakes (although Sookie was ultimately catering) and sending out wedding invitations, Lorelai didn't have much time to think about her mother not coming to the wedding. Rory tried to change her grandmother's mind every Friday night at dinner, but it was to no avail. Sookie even tried a little bit, but she didn't get very far either.

Nobody tried as hard as Luke though. He called her twice a day, but Emily had learned a few tricks from Lorelai and hung up on him every time he called. He even tried going over to her house, but she refused to see him and sometimes had a maid throw him out of the house. Luke tried to corral Richard into helping, but Richard refused as well. Richard wanted his wife to come to the wedding, but he wasn't going to harass her. His view was, "Luke, my boy, you and everyone else who is trying to get her to go to this wedding can make her mad and then leave. I have to live with her and I would like to try and stay on her good side."

Lorelai kept telling them she was fine and she wouldn't let them believe that Emily not coming to the wedding was affecting her. She truly did care if her mom came to the wedding and she really did want her to come. She had decided something though. She wouldn't let her mom ruin this for her. Emily wanted this to be a bad day for her and she wouldn't let her mom accomplish that.

It was month before the wedding and the invitations had been sent out a week ago. In this week, all the ones from the town had come back in and they had gotten Liz and TJ's as well. Everyone in the town was coming (naturally, this wedding had almost become a town event) and Liz and was going to be able to come, but TJ wasn't. Luke didn't know why and he didn't care; he was relieved because there would be no crazy at his wedding. Well, no more than he was used to; he could handle Lorelai's crazy any time.

All around, it had not been a good day for Lorelai. Rory just called and said she couldn't come home from Yale to try on her dress, she had too much homework and going to the grandparent's that night was going to put her behind on working on it. Lorelai's dress was also not coming along the way it was supposed to be. The woman who was supposed to get it in the mail had four other wedding dresses that were shipped that week and had accidentally left Lorelai's out, and was not going to get it shipped until the next week. Only these things could happen to her.

She was opening mail in the kitchen when she got the RSVP card from her parents. It just made everything worse. There was only one yes. She knew her mom had no function to go to, Rory had checked the book when Emily wasn't looking. All of the things that happened that day, along with the natural stress from the wedding, came crashing down on her and she collapsed in the nearest chair and cried.

Luke came back in the next minutes and heard Lorelai in the kitchen. He rushed in and asked her what was wrong. She handed him the RSVP card and went upstairs, tears still streaming down her cheeks. He looked at it and knew what was wrong. He didn't understand how Emily could be so mean. How could she not want to come to her own daughter's wedding? He was going to get that woman to come to the wedding if it was the last thing he did. His prime concern right now though was his girl, who was upstairs.

He walked up the stairs and pushed open the door to her room. He saw her lying on the bed crying. He hadn't expected anything else; this was where he figured she would be. He walked over to the bed and couldn't think of anything else to do but take her in his arms.

Quite honestly, he had never been good with crying women, especially when it came to this woman. This woman was his ray of sunshine, the one who could brighten his day with her ever-present smile. What was he supposed to do when she was crying? He was at a complete loss.

"Why doesn't she want to come?" Lorelai whispered to Luke.

Luke closed his eyes for a minute, wishing he had a better answer for her. "I don't know."

"What have I done?" Lorelai asked, still in a whisper.

"Nothing," Luke assured her. "She just doesn't like me."

"That's not fair!" Lorelai cried. "She hasn't even given you a chance. Why can't she at least try? I love you! That should be enough!"

Luke smiled at her. "It will be."

"What do you mean?" Lorelai asked him.

He wasn't ready to tell her that he was going to get her mom to the wedding, because he wasn't exactly sure how he was going to do it just yet. He decided the only thing he could do was kiss her, so he did.

Lorelai broke the kiss and looked at him. "Why are you doing this? I don't understand why you want to marry me. This is what it is like all the time with my family."

Luke shook his head. "Shhh."

He took her face in his hands again and kissed her. He felt the wetness of her tears on his fingers and tasted the salt of her tears. He drew back and stared at her face.

"Please stop crying," Luke whispered to her.

Lorelai opened her mouth to say something, but Luke put his forefinger on her lips hushing her. "I love you so much," he whispered again. "Please stop crying."

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" Lorelai asked out loud.

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" Luke repeated, turning the sentence to favor him.

Before she got a chance to say anything back to him, he cupped her face and kissed her again. This kiss turned quickly much more passionate than the other two had been. Their tongues met only five seconds into the kiss and that was when Luke knew he wouldn't be going back to the apartment above the diner tonight.

Lorelai couldn't help but wonder what she had ever done to deserve a man like Luke. She felt like Maria in The Sound of Music when Caption von Trapp finally fell in love with her. She felt like going out to the town's gazebo and bursting out in a chorus of Something Good. She promised to never mock that song again. Although she didn't approve of beginning a song while getting kissed and wasn't planning on going that far any time soon, she finally understood how the poor girl felt.

Lorelai's family had always been this way; her mother had always been this way. They always acted this crazy and they never cared what the other person thought. She was seriously starting to think the only sane one in her crazy family was Rory, because Lorelai knew she couldn't classify herself as sane. Then again, Rory was her daughter, so that was a handicap in itself. Also, Richard was coming and walking her down the aisle so-

Lorelai suddenly wondered why she was still thinking. She realized Luke was giving her this wonderful kiss, trying to make her feel better and she wasn't paying any attention. She suddenly felt bad for not participating more in the kiss. She decided to rectify that right away, right now. She brought her fingers to the buttons of his flannel shirt and skillfully began to unbutton the small buttons.

Luke felt what she was doing and although he wanted to do this he wasn't sure if this was such a good idea tonight. He then deduced that she probably just wanted to feel happy. She had been under so much stress lately with the wedding planning and worrying about her parents and everything that she had no time to relax. Although he wasn't exactly sure this would help her relax, he was sure this would make her feel better about everything.

Lorelai had almost got his shirt unbuttoned when Luke grabbed her hands to stop her. She pulled back from the kiss and gave him a bewildered look. He brought his lips close to her ear. "Let me do this. Let me make you feel better."

Lorelai shook her head slightly (again wondering what she did to deserve a man like him), but smiled her assent. Before she could comprehend anything, he again had captured her mouth in a deep kiss. From that moment he took over and Lorelai was unable to think about anything—especially her mother and the wedding—except the sensations running through her body.

_So I love _The Sound of Music_, it's probably one of my favorite movies…and the reference just worked so well! I hope you liked this chapter…how about you review and tell me! _


	12. Chapter 12

_Disclaimer: I don't own the character and I don't own some of the dialogue…I'm sure you'll see which dialogue I don't own._

_ A/N: Okay, so this is kind of a filler chapter too…I had to get in some of Lorelai's planning and my favorite Gilmore Girls quote was begging to be put in a chapter (although I did alter it a little so it would fit better)…so it's in this one…enjoy! _

In the course of the next month, the wedding planning began to pick up; after all, the wedding was at the end of this month. Lorelai was beginning to think that having the wedding in this month was a bad idea. Rory wasn't able to help much; finals were in full swing at Yale, and the only time she wasn't studying was when she was sleeping, and there wasn't even much of that. Rory kept promising that when finals were over she was going to owe her mother big time, but Lorelai was still waiting for that.

Sookie was trying to help, but Sookie's help consisted of, "Try this!" and a spoon ending up in Lorelai's mouth. She was very busy with the catering and Lorelai tried to stay away from her; she didn't want to taste all of her food before the wedding. She also wanted to feel like her wedding gown was going to still fit. She wasn't trying to starve herself, but all of Sookie's food consisted of too many calories. Calories she didn't trust her metabolism to burn quick enough.

Her father didn't help; he wouldn't even know where to start. The only thing he did was go to the tuxedo shop and rent his tux. He made sure it fit and Lorelai was sure it was buried far back in his closet so that her mother wouldn't find it. It might even be hidden in the pool house.

Her mother! The fact that Emily wasn't helping frustrated Lorelai the most. She didn't understand why her mother was so against this marriage. Her father and Rory kept telling her that she would come around, but she had yet to have this miraculous change of heart. Lorelai understood that she didn't like Luke, but…Lorelai stopped. Thinking about her mother lately only upset her and she wasn't in the mood to be upset.

She didn't mean to sound so pessimistic. There were many bright spots to this almost marriage, she wasn't going to lie. She had waited for a long time to be married to Luke and that was always a bright spot. In a month, she was going to be able to call herself Mrs. Danes. Well, Mrs. Gilmore-Danes. As much as she loved Luke, she wasn't able to desert her Gilmore-ness completely.

Luke in himself was another bright spot. He was trying so hard with all of this. He was trying to help, although he didn't really know much about wedding planning, nor did he care very much about it. He said, "Just give me a date and a time and I'll be there." Lorelai was the one who wanted the big town wedding with all her friends and family. Luke was also the one who comforted her when she was stressed or worried or…anything. She wouldn't let anyone see her when she was upset. She pretended to be okay about this whole Emily thing to Rory and Sookie, and although they didn't believe her, they acquiesced, for the time being. Luke, on the other hand, knew she was upset. She tried to hide it from him most of the time, but it didn't work. He never believed her, "I'm fine" statement and he was always able to comfort her in ways that Sookie and Rory couldn't, dirty or not.

Ultimately, Luke had been wonderful through all of this. He was not the romantic guy, but he tried to be. He tried to be everything and she was sure he would be anything for her. She also knew he didn't like crying women and when she was crying she freaked him out completely. Still, he was here, no matter what. She really did feel like Maria, but when she made Luke watch the movie, he didn't see the resemblance. She asked him how he couldn't see the resemblance, especially when Something Good came on the screen. Maria sang all about her "wicked childhood" and her "miserable youth," but Luke didn't see it. He contradicted with saying that if Maria was her, the Caption was him, and the Caption was singing about the same thing. Lorelai refused to believe that he had a wicked and miserable childhood and/or youth, and…

Lorelai sighed. This was what happened when she didn't have someone with whom she could plan. She got off track so easily. She was trying to do the seating chart for the reception, but that just wasn't working too well. Every time she put a name down she would think about that person and think about how much they meant to her and Luke. She had just added Kirk, which led to The Black, White and Read movie theater, because he usually ran that. That led to movies, which led to The Sound of Music because she had made Luke watch it very recently, and that was how she ended up on Maria in her last thought.

The reception was going to be in the backyard of the inn and their wedding was going to be in the town square, with the bride and groom standing in the gazebo under the chuppah. She knew no one would think it strange, because everyone knew the significance this carved arch had to the couple. She knew her mother would scoff about the gazebo and the chuppah _in_ the gazebo, but she couldn't think of a better place to get married. Luke also scoffed when she first told him about it, saying that Liz and TJ did that and it was renaissance. He said anyone that asked him if he was going to wear tights would not be invited to the wedding. They were going to get ready in rooms of the inn though, because Luke didn't have enough room in the diner. Rory wouldn't hear of Lorelai getting ready anywhere else. Rory said the bride and groom have to get ready in the same building. Lorelai shook her head. There she went again. Off track and thinking about something that had absolutely nothing to do with the seating chart she was planning. This had to stop!

"Mom!" Lorelai heard from the front door. She jumped up out of her chair in the kitchen and ran into the foyer.

"It's you!" Lorelai shouted. "Rory! You're here! Why aren't you at Yale? Don't you have to study for your finals?"

"I told you a week ago that I was going to be finished tonight and I was going to come home," Rory explained. "Don't you remember?"

"Um…" Lorelai stalled, not wanting to admit to her own flesh and blood that she forgot about her.

Rory smiled. "Wow, I really feel the love! Just kidding, I know you've been crazy busy. What are you working on tonight?"

"The seating chart for the reception," Lorelai answered. "And I can't do it! Every time I put someone's name down I think about everything they've done for us and why they are so important in our lives. When I think about that I think about another place they could go and before I know it I'm in full-fledged thought about The Sound of Music and Liz and TJ and how their wedding was the thing that brought us together and then I decided I couldn't do the seating chart. Why can't I do a seating chart? I'm wearing my green dress, I wish I was wearing my blue dress. My blue dress is at the cleaners. The Germans wore gray, you wore blue, Casablanca. Casablanca was such a good movie. Casablanca, the White House, Obama, health care. I should take better care of myself. I should ride my bicycle to work. Bicycle, unicycle, unitard, hockey puck, rattlesnake, monkey monkey underpants."

"Hockey puck, rattlesnake, monkey monkey underpants? Wow, Mom," Rory laughed, totally amused at her mom's thought process. "I'd say you need some serious help. Not help with who should sit where, but help with keeping you on track."

"And that's where my lovely daughter comes in!" Lorelai cried joyfully.

Rory nodded her head. "I will sit in the kitchen and quietly work on my speech for the reception while you quietly work on the seating chart. If I see you not working, I will make sure to get you back on track."

"But I wanted someone to talk to," Lorelai whined.

Rory rolled her eyes. "You do realize that if I'm talking to you, you won't be working on the seating chart, which will defeat the whole purpose."

"Not necessarily," Lorelai tried to argue.

"Necessarily!" Rory insisted. "Now come on, the quicker we start, the quicker we finish."

"Where did you get this work ethic?" Lorelai wondered aloud. "Not from me and not from Christopher."

Rory shrugged. "Maybe I got it from my dad. Luke has always had wonderful work ethic." With that she effectively ended the conversation and walked into the kitchen, leaving her bags in the car to be unloaded at a later date.

Lorelai still stood in the entry hall with a smile on her face. She loved how quickly Rory had gotten into the habit of thinking of Luke as her dad. Then again, Luke had always been her dad in some sense. He was always here when Christopher wasn't (which was pretty much all the time), and always ready to help them with anything they needed. She knew he talked a good game when it came to children, but he always had a soft spot for Rory. Oh, who was she kidding, he had a soft spot when it came to anything involving her. He would do anything for his two Gilmore Girls. She smiled, knowing the Gilmore Girls just had that effect on people…especially Luke.

"Mom!" Rory called from the kitchen. "Where are you? We don't have time for this kind of stalling, Missy!"

Lorelai rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile while walking toward the kitchen. Without the dramatics, that really did sound like Luke. Luke, Rory's true dad.

_Well, I hope you liked the chapter and I hope you liked the quote. That is definitely my favorite quote ever…and I know I changed it and left some stuff out, but I had to make it fit with the seating chart and such. Okay, anyway, I hope you liked this chapter and I hope you will review and tell me you did! Please review! _


	13. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer: I still don't own._

_A/N: Okay, and now the morning before the wedding. How do Luke and Lorelai feel? I hope you like this chapter…I tried to make it long by combining things…but I don't think it really worked! Enjoy!_

"Mom! Mom! MOM!" Rory shouted bouncing on the bed. "Wake up, wake up…NOW!"

Lorelai groaned and pulled the covers over her head. "Stop bouncing! Hate early. Must KILL early!"

Rory rolled her eyes and began to bounce on the bed again. "You are going to have to get up now. Or you will miss your wedding!"

Lorelai pulled the covers off her head so she could reach out and stop her daughter. "Didn't I tell you to stop that!"

Rory completely ignored her mom. "If you don't get up right now, you are going to be late for your wedding!"

Lorelai opened her eyes enough to see the time on her bedside clock. "I am not! It is 8:00 in the morning. I'm not going getting married until 2:00!"

"That's true," Rory agreed. "But Sookie will be here soon, and if you don't get up now, you won't be ready for her. If you aren't ready for her, then we will be late leaving the house. If we are late leaving the house then we will be late arriving at the inn. If we are late to the inn, we will be late getting ready. If we are late getting ready, we will be late leaving. If we are late leaving, ultimately we will be late to the wedding!" Rory's Chilton and Yale infected brain told her that was a fallacy, a slippery slope, but her mom didn't have to know that.

Lorelai wrinkled her forehead, closing her eyes again. "Too much information! Coffee!"

Rory rolled her eyes and was about to tell her it was on her nightstand. Rory decided she didn't want a repeat of the morning after Lorelai got engaged, so she just handed it to her mom.

"Mom, you went to bed early last night," Rory commented. "Why are you so tired right now?"

"I didn't sleep very well last night," Lorelai responded.

"Why not?" Rory questioned. "You weren't trying to think of ways to run away, were you?"

Lorelai sighed. "Oh, ye of little faith. I will be getting married today, just wait."

Rory smiled. "Sorry. But, why didn't you go to sleep?"

"Is this Luke's coffee?" Lorelai asked, avoiding the question.

"Yes, I went to the diner. I knew you would need Luke's coffee," Rory answered. "You want to answer my question?"

"You aren't supposed to see Luke!" Lorelai exclaimed.

Rory couldn't help but laugh. "That's you! I'm not marrying him! And you are avoiding my question. Why didn't you sleep well?"

"Luke wasn't here," Lorelai finally admitted quietly. "I have gotten so used to sleeping with him, no dirty intended, that I can't sleep well without him."

"Awh!" Rory sighed. "That's so romantic! And since it's your wedding day, I won't even mock you. The mocking will be saved for a later date."

Lorelai rolled her eyes, knowing Rory was going to respond like that. She slowly sipped her life blood, Luke's coffee, and finally felt herself becoming more alert. She slowly got out of bed.

"She's alive!" Rory teased.

"Shut up," Lorelai snapped. "I'm going to take a shower."

Rory just smiled at her mom and shook her head. "Sookie will be here soon. Hurry!"

-%

"What are you doing still in bed?" Jess asked Luke. He had just come up from the diner. "Shouldn't you be up by now?"

"Go away," Luke grouched. "Don't you need to take a shower or something?"

"You are sounding more and more like Lorelai," Jess teased.

"You want another push in the lake?" Luke threatened.

"Who's going to give it to me? You don't look like you are going to be moving any time soon," Jess commented. Jess looked closer at Luke. "Are you okay? Your eyes look a little funny."

"I just didn't get very much sleep last night," Luke admitted.

"Nothing keeps you from sleep," Jess recalled from his teen nights there.

Luke shrugged. "Well, maybe I'm sick."

"You don't look sick," Jess observed. "Just tired."

"Well, I guess that's it," Luke said. "But I am sick of this conversation."

"Then get out of bed," Jess countered with an obvious solution. "That will stop this conversation."

Luke shot a few choice words at Jess, but did slowly raise his body from the mattress. Luke knew why he didn't sleep. He had gotten so used to sleeping with Lorelai's warm body beside him in her bed that it felt very wrong when she wasn't beside him. It was so strange and so wrong that it kept him up last night. He would never tell Jess that though.

-%

Rory rolled her eyes at Sookie. "She is taking five hours! I'll go see what's keeping her."

Rory walked upstairs and saw her mom sitting on the bed with jeans and a T-shirt on her body. There was also a bag packed on the floor sitting beside her mom, and her beautiful dress was sitting delicately on the bed with the standard bag covering it. She looked at her mom with a confused look on her face.

"You are dressed, you packed your bag and your dress is out of the closet, now why aren't you downstairs and ready to go?" Rory asked.

"What if Luke isn't ready for this?" Lorelai whispered.

"Ready for what?" Rory asked.

"Ready for this marriage, ready for me," Lorelai replied.

"Oh, Mom," Rory sighed. "He has been ready for this marriage and ready for you forever! You know that."

"But he's never been faced with me before now," Lorelai countered truthfully. "He's never been this close to spending the rest of his life with me."

Rory shook her head. "Mom, he's not a runner. He would never run from you, he never could run from you. He loves you so much. Now let's go. Remember the scenario we were faced with this morning? It's about to come true."

"But, Rory, he's never been married to me," Lorelai said, still scared.

"He loves you!" Rory repeated. She ran over to her mom's bed, picked up the dress and the bag in one hand, and used the other to pull her mom off the bed. "Let's go. And I'll bet he's never been more excited."

-%

"Whoa, that is not a happy face," Jess observed. "Not the face of a man who is about to marry his dream girl, his Gilmore girl at that."

"Stop it," Luke commanded from his position on the couch.

"Okay, you want to tell me what's wrong?" Jess asked. "Jackson's downstairs and we really need to get to the inn, so hurry up and tell me what's the matter."

"Jackson's waiting, we should just go," Luke evaded, getting up off the couch.

Jess walked over and pushed him back down into a sitting position. "No way, buddy. You aren't getting off that easily. You have been off all morning. Tell me what's wrong with you."

"You aren't going to leave here until I tell you, are you?"

Jess shook his head. "Nope."

"And if I lied…" Luke began.

"I'd know," Jess finished.

Luke nodded. "That's what I thought."

Jess made himself comfortable. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Well, I don't know if you know this, but Lorelai once left a man at the altar," Luke began. He didn't know what had suddenly possessed his body, but his mouth was moving and suddenly was spilling his guts to his nephew.

"I think I remember Rory mentioning something about that in passing," Jess confirmed.

"His name was Max and he was a really good guy. He was the kind of guy her parents would approve of and absolutely love. She didn't even show up at the church though. She just took Rory and left town for a few days. The town found out when she didn't show up at the church and Max found out from Sookie," Luke explained.

"And?" Jess questioned, still not understanding.

"Lorelai's a runner. She has been known to run away from things that scare her. Marriage is the biggest step she has ever taken. She ran away one time, what's to stop her from running again?" Luke asked.

"She's not going to run from you if that's what you're worried about," Jess assured his uncle.

"And why should I believe you?" Luke asked again, not seeing any plausible reason.

Jess knew that Lorelai wasn't going to run for many reasons. One of the main ones being that her daughter had just come in for coffee not three hours ago. Two cups of coffee, one for her and one for her mother. Jess decided not to tell Luke that though. "Lorelai is not going to run away from you," Jess repeated. "I know her and I know she loves you. I knew she loved you the first time I saw you two together. I knew she loved you the first time I saw her talk about you. Did you ever think that the reason she ran away from that Max guy was because he wasn't you?"

Luke studied and Jess and concluded that he really was telling Luke what he thought. The pure, unadulterated truth. "I guess it's unfair to keep Jackson waiting any longer. Jess, I think college has done something for you."

Jess got up from his chair and smiled. "Not to mention Rory would kill her if she even mentioned running from you."

Luke rolled his eyes getting up from the couch to follow Jess downstairs. "Then again, maybe not."

_Yeah, Luke and Jess' conversation might not ever happen on the show, but I do think Jess has grown up and I do think that he would try to be supportive of Luke…remember the self-help book? He did thank him and such because of the book…right? Review and let me know what you're thinking please! _


	14. Chapter 14

_ Disclaimer: I do not own anything._

_ A/N: It's still before the wedding. They are arriving at the inn…and Luke is late…what if he doesn't come after all? I'm sorry this is so late friends. I will probably be MIA for a week; I'm going on vacation, but I'll try to post as much as is possible. Read and enjoy! _

"Where is he?" Rory muttered to herself looking at her watch again. "He's never this late!"

"What?" Sookie asked, coming up behind her.

Rory jumped. "You scared me. And I was just wondering where Luke was."

"That's what your mom sent me to find out," Sookie told Rory. "She thought you got lost."

"Lost!" Rory exclaimed.

"It is taking you forever," Sookie pointed out truthfully.

"No," Rory argued. "It's taking him forever! I don't know where he is! I swear, if he doesn't show up I'll kill him!"

"He's not here yet!" Sookie cried. "Oh no! What if he doesn't show! Oh no!"

"Mom was worried that he wouldn't show this morning," Rory mused. "Maybe she had something. I'll kill him!"

"What if he doesn't show?" Sookie shrieked.

"What, Sookie, don't be so loud!" Rory said. "I don't want Mom to hear you."

"Is that—" Sookie began, hearing the sound of a truck.

"Yes!" Rory screamed. "He is here! Finally!"

"I'll go tell your mom they're here," Sookie offered. "You can greet them and show them to their room."

Rory was already on her way to the truck. When she reached it she launched herself into Luke's arms. "You're here!"

Luke just awkwardly hugged her for a second and tried to figure out why she was currently in his arms. "What do you mean?"

"You were late," Rory told him. "I was afraid you weren't going to show!"

"Rory," Luke scolded her. "You know I would never do that."

"I know," Rory admitted. "But Mom was worried about that earlier, talking about how you had never been married to her and yadda yadda, and I guess she just got to me."

"Your Mom was worried that I wouldn't come!" Luke exclaimed. "How could she think that?"

"I guess the same way you would think that," Jess jumped in the conversation.

"What?" Rory asked.

"Never mind," Luke said. "Do we have a room?"

"Of course! Mom booked these rooms ages ago," Rory said. "Let's go."

They arrived at their room. Luke and Jackson went inside but Rory grabbed Jess' arm and made him stay outside. "What is going on here? Why were you all so late?"

"Luke was insecure as well," Jess revealed. "He said your mom was a runner and he was afraid she was going to run away from him because she ran away from Max."

"She ran away from Max because he wasn't Luke," Rory corrected.

"I know," Jess assured her. "That's exactly what I told him. I didn't tell him the main reason I knew she wasn't going to run was because you came in to get coffee."

"Why not?" Rory asked. "That would have assured him."

"Yeah, I know," Jess said. "But I figured he was going to be unsecure about a lot of things today, and pretending like I knew stuff just because I did would be beneficial for him."

"Probably," Rory agreed.

"It has been a whole year since we have seen each other," Jess stated, changing the subject completely.

"And whose fault is that?" Rory rightfully questioned.

"Hey now," Jess said. "We cleared that up a while ago."

Rory shrugged. "Yeah, I guess we did."

"How was your first year at Yale?" Jess asked.

"It was amazing," Rory told him. "It was everything I ever imagined it would be. I mean, it was hard, but it was really fun as well. I know it sounds horribly cliché, but I learned something new every second I was there!"

Jess smiled at her enthusiasm. "I'm glad you had fun."

"Well, look at me, doing all the talking here," Rory scolded herself. "How about you? How are things going?"

"Things are good," Jess said. "I'm in college now."

"Really!" Rory exclaimed, "Where?"

"It's just a small community college," Jess admitted. "But things are going well. I mean, I hate the math and science stuff, but English and history are good and fun."

"How did you do this year?" Rory inquired. "If you don't mind me asking that is."

Jess shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I managed to get all A's."

"Oh my gosh!" Rory cried. "Jess, that's amazing! You got all A's in college? Wow!"

"I'm sure you did too, Rory," Jess accused.

"But that's different," Rory argued. "It was expected that I would get all A's. You…well…"

"I know," Jess started, saving her. "I wasn't expected to do so well because I wasn't as smart as you."

"That's not what I meant!" Rory insisted. "I always knew you were smart. I knew if you did something with that brain of yours instead of shaking it around in there you would do great! I'm glad you are trying now. With grades like that, you could get into a top school. You should try to get into Yale with me!"

"I'm sure your mother would love that," Jess joked sarcastically.

"She doesn't hate you, you know," Rory told Jess.

"She doesn't like me either," Jess countered.

"She just didn't like you because you weren't trying in school and you didn't care about it," Rory revealed. "She would like you now. Especially since you are in college, and made such good grades. She would be so impressed. I'm impressed."

Jess smiled. "Yeah, well, you're easy."

"Dirty!" Rory exclaimed. "And I am not!"

Jess laughed. "I should have seen that one coming. You haven't changed a bit. You just look a little older." Jess paused for a second, but then said, "You are just as beautiful."

Rory felt her face getting red, so she looked down at the floor. He brought his hand beneath her chin making her look at him. She looked into his eyes. She knew he wanted to kiss her. This was bad, very bad. She couldn't let herself fall for him again.

"Jess," Rory whispered.

Jess put his finger on her lips, making all of her protests die. She was ready to give him anything he wanted.

Suddenly the door to the guy's room opened. They jumped apart and saw Luke standing there looking at them suspiciously. "What are you two doing?"

Rory quickly collected herself and answered him, "Talking about college. Well, I'd better go get ready. Grandpa still insists Grandma is going to have a change of heart so I'll bring her down here when she comes. Bye!" Rory knew Jess was going to be watching her so she swayed her hips just a little extra bit to drive him even crazier.

Luke nodded at her last statement. He knew Richard was going to get Emily here. Although he wasn't happy about the deal they made, they did make a deal. Because Richard was going to bring Emily, Luke was going to talk about franchising his diner and probably end up doing so. He figured to make Lorelai happy, it was a small price to pay.

Jess watched Rory walk away, wondering how she could be so cool and collected. College had really changed her. He felt _his_ face getting red, especially watching her hips sway as she walked. He knew she was doing that just to annoy him.

Luke looked closely at Jess. "College? You two flew apart like shrapnel when I opened this door and your face is awfully red to have been talking about college."

"It's hot in this hall," Jess snapped. "Leave me alone!" With that he walked past Luke into the room and Luke shook his head. He wondered if they had ended up kissing in that hall. He wouldn't have been the least bit surprised.

_Hmmm…could there be some Rory/Jess in this story too? I think so! And, I know, Jess would have to have had good grades in high school to be able to get into college, but let's say he repeated his senior year and did really well! Okay now…it's your turn. Review! _


	15. Chapter 15

_Disclaimer: I do not own._

_A/N: Well, look at this, I'm posting! I thought we would be on our way now but…obviously we are not. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter…and I still might be MIA tomorrow and such…we'll see. _

"What took you so long?" Lorelai asked her daughter when she came back into the room.

"Yeah," Sookie agreed. "It took you an incredibly long amount of time to show the guys their room."

"I was just talking to Jess," Rory divulged, not seeing any reason to keep that piece of information secret. After all, it wasn't like she was going to tell them they almost kissed. "Did you know he is in college now? And he got all A's this first year."

"Wow!" Lorelai exclaimed. "It looks like you were right all along, Rory."

Rory gave her a confused look.

"You were always telling me he was really smart," Lorelai clarified. "You knew what you were talking about, didn't you?"

Rory shrugged. "He was always reading books, authors like Tolstoy and Jane Austin, although he hated her. I have never seen anyone read as much as he did, outside of me. I knew he could do something with that brain of his; he just didn't care in high school. That's why he is at a community college instead of Harvard, Yale or Princeton."

"You really think he could get into those schools?" Sookie asked, uncertainly.

"I really do," Rory reiterated confidently. "Anyway, I have to get ready, I still don't have—" She was cut off by her ringing phone. "Hello?"

"Rory, it's your grandfather," Richard identified himself. "I'm out here, but I don't know where your room is, so could you come out here and get me?"

"Of course, I will be right there," Rory assured him. After she hung up she looked at her mom and Sookie. "I have to go get Grandpa. Again, I'll be back shortly."

When she got outside, she saw Richard, but no Emily. "Where is Grandma?"

"Well, that's why I wanted you to come out here," Richard revealed. "She's not here. She's not…well, she's not coming."

"What!" Rory exclaimed. "You promised she would have a change of heart and she would be here today!"

"I know I promised that, and I tried," Richard promised her. "I told her I was leaving four times and the only time she stopped me was to ask if I had the gift. Then I asked her if she even cared that her daughter was getting married today and we got into a huge argument."

"Oh, Grandpa," Rory sighed. "I'm sorry, but I'm so disappointed."

"You're not the only one," Richard muttered under his breath, thinking of Luke and the money he could have made with the diner. Not to mention the money Richard would have made leading Luke in the franchisement and handling the insurance.

"I need to talk to Luke," Richard blurted out suddenly.

"Why?" Rory questioned.

"Just let me talk to him," Richard commanded.

Rory shrugged. "Okay. I have to go and tell Jess that he doesn't have to walk Grandma down the aisle anyway. He will be happy."

As they started walking toward the guy's room, Richard asked Rory a question. "You said Jess would be happy? Who is this Jess and why will he be happy?"

Rory smiled. "Jess is Luke's nephew, one of my ex-boyfriends and a good friend of mine now. He is also the best man. He had to meet Grandma once, and he hated it. Grandma pretty much scares all of my boyfriends…and all of mom's also. Except Dean…you were the one who scared him."

Richard nodded, remembering. "I did apologize to you about that, didn't I?"

"Multiple times," Rory reminded him. "And it was okay. I mean, I should have listened to you. Dean wasn't the right guy for me. Luke knew that also, he was just too polite to say anything to me about it. Mom just liked him because he was good and nice."

They had arrived at the guy's room and Rory knocked on the door. Jess answered the knock. "You're back again."

Rory laughed. "I know. I have some good or bad news for you, depending on how you look at it."

"Okay, what's the news?" Jess asked as Rory and Richard stepped into the room.

"Well, it turns out Grandma isn't here so you don't have to walk her down the aisle," Rory informed him.

While Jess breathed a sigh of relief, Luke was another story. "She isn't here?" He looked at Richard for clarification.

Richard nodded his head somberly. "I'm sorry, Luke. I tried, I really did."

"You said she would be here!" Luke repeated. "You promised to get her here. I was ready to franchise my diner so she would be here."

"You were going to franchise the diner!" Rory cried.

Luke ignored Rory. "I am not getting married unless she is here. I want Lorelai to be happy today and she won't be truly happy unless Emily is here. I'll just have to go get her."

"Luke, no!" Rory screamed, and then he looked at her. "If you go get Grandma, it will take you at least three hours and you are getting married in an hour and a half. You don't have enough time."

"It will not take three hours," Luke argued.

"Yes, it will," Rory countered. "It takes 30 minutes to get to Hartford from here, so that's one hour, and then it will take you at least two hours, if you are lucky, to talk Grandma into coming here."

"Relax, Rory," Jess soothed. "You can just tell your mom that he went to go get Emily."

"No!" Luke bellowed. "I want her to be surprised."

"Well then, please tell me what I'm supposed to do?" Rory asked almost in tears. "Please don't go. Mom was worried enough this morning. I can't tell her she has to wait to get married because I don't know if her fiancé is going to be here yet!"

"Stall until I get back," Luke said running out the door.

"Luke!" Rory screamed again. He had already run out and he didn't turn around at her cry. She closed her eyes and tried to compose herself. She wasn't going to cry now. Her mom would be sure to tell if she had been crying.

"I'm going to kill him," Rory whispered to herself. "I'm going to kill him!"

"Rory, calm down," Jess said, trying to make her feel better and putting one of his hands on her shoulder. "You don't even have your dress on yet. You have to go get ready for this wedding. I will think about how we can stall them and I will be sure to call you if Luke gets back with your grandma, if he gets back without your grandma. I promise. You just have to calm down now. You can't go back until you are completely relaxed. Your mom will be able to tell if something is wrong."

Rory took a couple of very deep breaths and blinked a few times to make sure all traces of her tears were gone. "Okay, I'm ready," she began to walk out the door. "You will call, no matter what?"

Jess nodded his assurance, "No matter what."

_ Emily didn't come…and Luke has left so he can get her to come! Will he be able to convince her? What if he doesn't get back in time? What will happen with him and Lorelai? I think this is a bit of a cliffhanger and I'm sorry for that…but if you review I will try to post tomorrow. I think you should review anyway though, but that's just me! Review! _


	16. Chapter 16

_Disclaimer: I do not own, but you should know this by now._

_A/N: And now Luke talks to Emily and we find out if she agrees to come to the wedding. And does Lorelai find out Luke is not there? How do they stall? Enjoy!_

Luke was on his way to Hartford and trying not to get arrested. He didn't want to be late for his own wedding so he was going as fast as he dared. The speed limit was 55, but he was going about 70. He was surprised he hadn't gotten pulled over yet. He was glad there weren't many cops out today.

He had heard Rory's frantic cry when he ran out the door and he knew she wasn't happy with the decision he made. He also knew she didn't think he could get Emily to come. She was right on that account, he had absolutely no idea how to get Emily to this wedding. He was going to get her there though. He wasn't going to leave her house unless she was with him.

Luke arrived at her house and took a deep breath. No matter what he was doing here, this house always made him nervous. He hated to go inside because he felt like it was a huge showroom and he was going to break something. He felt like it was the kind of place that would have a chair inside because it looked pretty, but nobody would be allowed to sit in it. He hated places like that, and this was definitely like a place he might hate…this was a place he _did _hate. He forced himself to ring the doorbell and then waited.

When Emily opened the door, he could tell that she was shocked. He used that and stepped into her entry hall, but that was as far as he went. He figured he should be close to the door if she decided to have him thrown out, because he was sure she wouldn't do it herself. He figured staying here would give him the chance to run out before he was thrown out by a maid.

"What are you doing here?" Emily questioned as soon as she got her voice. "Aren't you supposed to be at your wedding? Why are you in my entry hall? Did I give you permission to come in here?"

"No, you did not give me permission," Luke responded, "But I came in anyway. And as for my wedding, I am not leaving here unless you leave with me. I am not going to get married until you come with me. By association your daughter is not going to get married until you come with me. I refuse to let your daughter get married if you are not there. I know she wants you there."

"I am not going to condone this marriage," Emily said rather huffily. "I don't know where you get off acting like you deserve my daughter. She could do so much better."

"I know I don't deserve your daughter," Luke told Emily truthfully. He had never deserved Lorelai and he still didn't know what he had done to get so lucky.

"You do not deserve her and—" Emily cut off shocked. Did he just say he didn't deserve Lorelai? "Did you just say you didn't deserve her?"

"That is exactly what I said," Luke confirmed. "I know I don't deserve her. Quite frankly, I think only a prince or king would be good enough for Lorelai and Rory and even then it would be iffy. I am nowhere near a prince or a king, of which I am sure you are aware, and I don't know what I did to get so lucky."

"If you know she deserves someone better than what are you doing marrying her?" Emily asked. She was truly interested to see what this answer would be.

"She chose me," Luke answered. "I don't know why she did, but she did. I have spent every day since I have known her trying to make her happy. I plan to do so even after we are married. That is actually why I am here. I know it would make her very happy if you were at her wedding. I know you don't think she cares, but she really does. I spent this last year with her, and I saw how devastated she was when you weren't coming."

"Lorelai doesn't care what I do," Emily scoffed. "What I say doesn't matter to her, she could care less what I do, she could care less what she does to me. If she actually cared, she wouldn't have left all those years ago."

"All those years ago," Luke repeated. "That was a long time ago, as you just said. She is trying to make things better between you two, she really wants to make them better. She was still going to Friday Night Dinner even though Rory was only indebted to you both. She called you the day after we got engaged. After Rory and Richard, you were the first person to know. She wants you at the wedding, and I don't understand why you don't care to come," Luke was getting angry at this point. "It's times like these when I wish my mom was still alive. That way when you decide to act like this, Lorelai would at least have some semblance of a mother." Luke then realized that antagonizing Emily would not be the best idea right now.

"Consider yourself lucky," Luke continued in a softer more wistful tone. "You still get to see Lorelai or you did before you decided not to come to the wedding. You still get to see Rory. If Lorelai and I have any kids, I'm sure Rory will bring them over to see you. I know my mother and father would give anything to see these things, including the wedding, and I would give almost anything to have my parents see them. You have this chance, you have all these chances. I don't understand why you don't take advantage of them."

Emily remembered Lorelai mentioning something to her about his parents having died a while ago. Emily actually thought about what Luke said about his parents. He did have a point there. She could see all these things, if Lorelai would let her. Oh, who was she kidding? She could see all these things if she would just get rid of her pride and her belief that image was so important. After all, none of her high society friends would risk a wedding for their fiancé, especially just to make said fiancé happy.

Emily also knew she wasn't a young woman anymore. Richard had already had one heart attack like experience and she had her problems as well. She also knew Richard wasn't eating as healthy as he should be and he had promised to let her go first, so there was no telling when she would go (she knew Mother Nature didn't exactly care about who promised who what, but she held tight to that promise). If she did end up dying soon, she didn't want her and Lorelai to be on bad terms. What if the last memory Lorelai had of her mother was her refusal to go to her wedding?

Emily took a deep breath, looked up at Luke and spoke a single word, "Okay."

…**Meanwhile…**

Rory was ready and asked her mom and Sookie to look her over to make sure she looked presentable. She had done the regular things with her make-up and hair, except for slightly curling her hair. She was worried about her dress. She wasn't worried about it falling down, because her mom had actually listened to her and got a dress with spaghetti straps holding it up over her body. She just wasn't sure the deep purple her mom had picked was her color. Lorelai and Sookie oohed and ahhed over it though, so she supposed she looked fine. After all, this wasn't her day and as soon as her mom walked down the aisle all the attention would be on her. She looked absolutely breathtaking. She decided Luke would be lucky if he could even talk.

As soon as Lorelai showed Sookie and Rory the dress, Sookie couldn't help but voice her thoughts, "Oh honey, Luke is going to have problems at the reception. I don't know how long he will be able to look at you and not want to take that dress off of you!" (Luckily, this was before Richard had arrived).

"Sookie!" Rory exclaimed as Lorelai laughed and cried, "Dirty!" Although Rory had exclaimed at Sookie's proclamation, she was sure it was true. Lorelai's dress was not strapless either. The sleeves were three fingers thick and sat on the curve of her shoulder. The dress had beads that started just above the bust and went down to her waist. At the waist, she had a champagne colored sash that tied in a bow on the side. The skirt was full and also had little beads on the end. It touched the floor and Rory couldn't help but think that her mom would be lucky if all the beads touching the floor (since all of the ones on the end of her dress were doing so) hadn't fallen off by the time the reception was over that night. The train was long and flowing, just like it should be and had beads covering it as well.

Her mom had also left her hair down and curled. She knew her mom had wanted to do something to it, but she also knew Luke liked her hair down and liked it curled. Rory was able to convince her mom to leave it alone today. She didn't have a veil, but she didn't have a tiara either. She wasn't able to find a tiara in time, but her head was much too big for a veil. Although she didn't necessarily believe what Emily had told her all those years ago, she couldn't find a veil that looked good on her.

It was now 1:55 and Jess hadn't called Rory. She was starting to get nervous, but was trying not to let her mom see. She could tell her grandpa was getting nervous as well. If Luke took too long, she would blame her grandma forever and it was truly possible that she would never see her again.

Rory jumped as her phone vibrated in her hand. "Hello!"

"He's not here," Jess told her. "Not yet."

"Oh no!" Rory had to cry. When Lorelai and Sookie looked at her, she knew she had made a mistake. What was she going to tell them.

"I'm glad you said that," Jess said truthfully. "See, I decided that to stall them, we were going to say that Jackson was having a panic attack. He won't really be having one, but you will send Sookie over here and we will draw out this panic attack as long as we can. We will tell Sookie what is really going on when she gets over here."

"I guess that's the only thing that will work," Rory agreed. "I don't have another solution. I'll tell her. Bye!"

She hung up the phone and told Sookie the lie. "We have a situation that needs to be taken care of, Sookie. Before you get scared, there is nothing wrong with the food. It's just, Jess said Jackson was having some kind of weird panic attack. Luke and Jess can't do anything to stop it and they thought maybe you would be able to calm him down some."

"Jackson has never had a panic attack before," Sookie said. "I wonder why he is having one now."

Rory shrugged. "That's what Jess called it. He could be mistaken, but something is wrong with Jackson. Whatever it is, it's preventing us from leaving, so I suggest you see what is going on with him."

Sookie nodded and hurried out the door. Before she left she called over her shoulder to Lorelai, "I'll try to hurry!" Rory didn't say it out loud, but she knew that no matter what Sookie did, this situation wasn't something she could hurry…unless she had a magic wand and could make Luke appear here with her grandmother willingly by his side.

_ And the next chapter will be the wedding. I hope you all liked this chapter…I know I keep saying I'm going to be MIA…I might be tomorrow though. I just felt bad leaving you all with a cliffhanger like this! Read and review friends! _


	17. Chapter 17

_Disclaimer: I don't own._

_ A/N: I'm back! This is actually two chapters, but I really wanted to post the second one today, so I just combined them, and made one really long one! Enjoy!_

When Luke arrived back at the inn, it was 2:15. He hoped Rory and Jess and anybody else that was in on this had done a good job of stalling. He noticed that Richard's car, but more importantly, the Jeep was still here. Maybe everything was going to be okay.

He would have been here sooner, but Emily was adamant about the things she had to do before leaving. She had to change her clothes because she was not dressed suitably for a wedding, even though he thought she looked impeccable. He couldn't really tell the difference between the clothes she had on and the clothes she put on, but he was sure these were some kind of designer special.

She also had to get something out of her hope chest. Well, finding the key and opening the hope chest was a job. After she found the key, she was able to fit it into the lock and open the chest without _too much_ trouble. Of course, finding they key took at least ten minutes in itself. Luke didn't know why that had taken so long; he figured Emily was the kind of person who knew where everything was.

Then, she refused to ride in his truck. She was sure it was going to break down if it went faster than 20 miles. She enforced this argument by saying the speed limit in Stars Hollow was 12. He argued saying that he had gone at least 70 on the way to Hartford. He also said the truck had not broken down on him yet and he didn't expect it to do so. Lorelai's car had more problems than his truck did. That didn't exactly reassure Emily, but she did agree to ride in it. Of course, that was only after she had wiped the seat off with a Kleenex and gone in the house to get an old towel that she could sit on, and throw away later.

As they walked into the guy's room, Sookie breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad you're back, Luke. Rory will be glad as well. She was worried."

"I have an idea," Jess announced. "Why don't you go see Lorelai, Mrs. Gilmore. I'm sure she will be glad to see you. Then Rory will know Luke is back and she won't have to worry anymore."

"That's a good idea," Emily praised. "Your name was Jess, wasn't it?"

At Jess' nod, she turned around and walked out of the room.

"Coward," Luke taunted. "You just didn't want to be in the same room with her for very long."

"Shut up," Jess snapped. "At least she won't be my mother-in-law."

"I'll wait until she comes back, and then I'll go over to the girl's room," Sookie told them. "That way we can wait until you guys are gone before we leave."

In the girl's room, Rory was slightly panicked. She had gotten a text from Lane at least ten minutes ago asking her where they were. She was sending back a text message right now. **There is a situation here that we have to attend to right now. I'll explain at the reception. There will be one! –Rory** Although she did tell Lane there would be a reception (and she was sure there would be), she didn't mention that she didn't know when it would be, or where it would be. It could be in the backyard of her grandmother's house in Hartford, because that might be where they had to go to have a wedding.

"Rory," Lorelai called to get her daughter's attention. "I feel like I'm forgetting something!"

"Well, let's see," Rory said. "You have something old and something new?"

"Yes, my earrings are old and my lingerie is new," Lorelai confirmed.

"Of course," Rory joked. "I saw your garter, and that was blue, so—"

Lorelai gasped. "I don't have something borrowed!"

Rory's eyes got wide. "Oh no! I wish I had something, but I don't. All I have are my earrings, and if I give you those, you won't have something old!"

"Dad?" Lorelai turned to Richard, a question in her eyes.

"What could I possibly give you?" Richard asked.

Rory was over searching through the bags while Lorelai was looking through her make-up bag one more time when a voice from the door said, "I have something you can borrow."

"Grandma!" "Emily!" Rory and Richard gasped simultaneously.

"Mom?" Lorelai breathed. "You're…you're here?"

"I am," Emily confirmed. "I brought something for you. I'm not sure if you will want it, but I brought it all the same." She pulled a box out of her purse and handed it to Lorelai. Lorelai gasped when the content of the box was revealed. Inside, the box held a beautiful tiara.

"Mom, it's beautiful!" Lorelai exclaimed. "Where did you get it?"

"I wore it when I got married," Emily informed her daughter. "I saved it in my hope chest so you could wear it when you got married. I wasn't sure if you already had one, but I see you don't. I also see you aren't wearing a veil, which is good, because your head is much too big for one. I was thinking you could borrow the tiara for today and return it when you get the chance."

Lorelai nodded. "Thank you so much. Are you sure?"

Emily nodded at Lorelai. "I'm positive. Here, let me help you."

Emily walked over and put the tiara in Lorelai's hair and situated it perfectly. Lorelai and Emily both realized this was as close as they were going to get to the mother helping her daughter get ready before the wedding. They smiled at each other; a rare occurrence.

"Mom, it's perfect!" Rory cried. "You look even more beautiful than you did earlier. The tiara was the perfect touch."

"It really was," Lorelai agreed.

"Yes, it was," Emily agreed as well. "And Rory is right. You do look lovely. Absolutely breathtaking. When Luke—"

"Speaking of Luke," Rory cut in, slightly shaking her head. She figured Luke hadn't told Emily that Lorelai didn't know that he had made that little trip and Rory didn't think now was the right time to tell Lorelai. "You should probably get back to the guy's room and see if Jackson is feeling any better. The town gets worried when Mom is late to…well…anything, but especially a wedding."

Emily slightly smiled. "I can't say I'm particularly surprised." She looked her daughter over one last time. "You do look beautiful. You look just like I imagined you would on your wedding day."

Lorelai broke out into a wide smile. "Thank you so much, Mom. I really am happy you are here."

"I'm happy I'm here also," Emily admitted. They looked at each other briefly and then before either of them could analyze what they were thinking, they were hugging. Rory felt her eyes go wide and she was sure they almost popped out of her head. She looked at Richard and it was obvious he was feeling the same way.

After a few minutes, mother and daughter broke apart and acted like nothing unusual had happened. "I guess I should be going now," Emily decided. "That boy, Jess was it? He didn't look very excited about my arrival. He is walking me down the aisle, right?"

Rory had to laugh. "Yes, but I think you scare him."

Emily nodded. "Good!"

Rory and Richard were laughing as Emily walked out of the room and even Lorelai was smiling. Sookie came back in a few minutes later. "Okay people. The guys just left. We should be able to leave in a minute or two."

When everything in the room was picked up and organized for Rory to pick up later, the other half of the wedding party was on their way.

-%

As they arrived at the town square, Lorelai pulled Rory aside to talk to her for a minute.

"This is it, Mom! I can't believe you're getting married!" Rory squealed.

Lorelai shook her head. "I can't believe it."

"You are happy, right?" Rory asked just to make sure.

"Of course sweets," Lorelai assured her daughter.

"You don't seem happy," Rory observed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Lorelai said. "It's just…it's always been just you and me. The 'No Boys Allowed' Club. Now, I'm getting married! There will a boy, living in our house."

Rory laughed. "It's not a boy Mom, its Luke. You and Luke made adaptations and changes, so technically it's not the Crap Shack. It's not our clubhouse; I don't live there anymore. Besides, we love Luke. Not to mention, I was five when we made that rule!"

Lorelai took a deep breath. "So you are okay with all of this?"

"If I wasn't, believe me, you would have known before now," Rory told her mom.

"I'm getting married!" Lorelai cried.

Rory laughed again. "Yes, you are."

Richard walked over to them. "Come on girls. Sookie will be walking down the aisle in two seconds. It's your turn, Rory."

Rory looked at her mom. "It's time for you to get hitched."

Rory hugged her mom. "I love you, Mom."

"Kid, you have no idea," Lorelai said.

Rory began to walk down the aisle and she looked around at all the people here. She couldn't believe Luke had gotten her grandma to come, but there she was, sitting in a chair close to the front. She looked at her grandma again, and then she smiled up at Luke. He was smiling back at her and he gave her a small wink as well.

As Rory looked at Jess, she almost burst out laughing. The look on his face was one of pure shock. She wondered what he could be shocked at, but then remembered that he hadn't seen her in her dress. Was he shocked at how bad she looked…or how good she looked? Either way, she didn't think she should be caring. Funny how she cared if he thought she looked bad, but didn't care what this crowd thought.

Rory shot a small questioning glare in Lane's direction. Luckily Lane saw the glare and answered with a small nod and mouthing the word, "Gorgeous." Rory then slightly tilted her head in Jess' direction and Lane rolled her eyes. Rory knew that was Lane's way of saying that Jess thought she looked good.

Rory shot another smile at Jess (thinking that he looked really good as well!) and then she focused her eyes on the end of the aisle, knowing her mom was going to appear at any second. She couldn't wait!

The bride music started and everybody stood up, waiting. They didn't have to wait for very long though, because Lorelai appeared almost as soon as the music started. She walked down the aisle very gracefully and seemed to be more beautiful than she was in the inn's dressing room.

Luke certainly agreed, if the look on his face was any indication. His eyes were as wide as they could be, but his mouth was curved into a smile. Rory's eyes darted between her mom and Luke and noticed they both had that same wide smile on their faces. The only difference was Lorelai's eyes weren't so wide.

When Lorelai reached the front of the church everyone was seated and the minister asked the ever important question, "Who gives this woman to this man?"

Richard looked at Emily briefly and so did Rory and Luke. When they saw her nod, Rory wanted to jump up and down with joy, but she contained herself. "Her daughter, mother and I do."

Lorelai, having not looked at Emily, did then. Her face showed pure shock as she looked at her mother, but Emily just smiled at her. Lorelai shook her head, wondering what had caused this change of heart, but not going to question it at the moment, if at all. She turned around and handed her flowers to her daughter.

Revered Skinner told them of the importance of the union and then he gave them their vows to repeat. Luke and Lorelai had agreed to do the standard vows, although that surprised most of the townspeople. The rings were then handed to each the bride and groom, and they put them on each other's finger.

"Before I pronounce you man and wife by the power vested in me from God, the state of Connecticut and of course Taylor (the crowd chuckled at this), I believe Luke wanted to say something," the Reverend said.

Luke nodded. "I'm not good with words; that's why I didn't want to write our own vows. The vows in the ceremony are good and they say lots of things that you need to hear me say, Lorelai. The only problem with them is that they don't say some things that you also need to hear me say. So, I'm going to try to rectify that.

"These vows don't tell you what an inspiration you are to everyone around you, but especially to me. When you had no idea how to do anything but put mascara on flawlessly in a moving car, you came to Stars Hollow and you learned how to be a maid. Not only that, but you continued to work at it until you became one of Mia's best maids. You went from a maid to the manager of the Independence Inn. One of the best manager's the inn has ever had, Mia said so herself.

"When you decided that you wanted to open your own inn, you went to a community college in Hartford, got your business degree and did everything you could to make sure the Dragonfly would be the best inn in Connecticut. We all know it is the best inn we have ever stayed in and that fancy magazine agreed with us in every aspect.

"You inspire us with those little things every day, but you will shrug that off and say you had a lot of help. When you think you aren't inspirational or think that you had help with all of that stuff, just look at the girl behind you, holding your flowers. You, as a seventeen year old girl, raised her…all by yourself. She is going to Yale and she is going to be the best journalist, the best foreign correspondent the world has ever had."

Rory felt herself blushing, bringing brought up in Luke's speech. Of course, she guessed it was only fair. After all, she was a huge part of her mom's life and she was sure her speech at the reception about Luke was going to make him turn more shades of red than he had ever experienced.

"I'm not sure about the rest of the town," Luke continued, "But I'm positive I couldn't have raised a baby at seventeen and have it turn out as good as Rory has. Maybe some of that was her schooling, maybe some of that was her books, but it was mostly you. She amazes me every day, and so do you, Lorelai.

"I know I'm not good enough for you, so I just thank God every day that you picked me to stand up here with you and we have rings on our fingers, getting ready to be man and wife. Lorelai Victoria Gilmore, I love you more than life itself, and I know you will keep inspiring us and amazing me until we are no longer on this earth."

At this point, Luke looked at the Reverend, signaling he was finished. The Reverend started again. "By the power vested in me by God, the state of Connecticut, and Taylor, I now pronounce you—"

"Wait," Lorelai interrupted. "I can't just let him say that. I have to say something also." The Revered shrugged and let her go ahead with what she wanted to say.

"First off, for Mr. Monosyllabic Man, that was amazing," Lorelai joked. "Anyway, I love words. Actual words, or ones I have made up, I love them all. This is the reason I didn't want to write my own vows. I knew I would get carried away and go off on tangents that had nothing to do with what I was talking about at the present time. If I do that Rory, make sure you poke me."

In response, Rory poked her and whispered, "You're doing it right now."

"The vows said some things you needed to hear me say as well, Luke," Lorelai mimicked the first part of his speech. "But they also didn't say some very important things. Keep in mind I didn't have this all planned out like this one did over here." Saying that earned her another poke in the back by Rory.

"Ow!" Lorelai complained, but went on with her speech. "Luke, you are my rock. Without you, I know I could do none of the things I do. You showed me what a self-running business was supposed to be like with the diner. You even sat down one day and helped me with all my plans and made sure they looked in order.

"When I was sure my dream of opening the inn was going to fall apart around me because there wasn't enough money, you became an investor in it. You had no idea if I was going to be a good business owner or if you were going to be throwing your money away, but you did it anyway.

"And we wouldn't be living in our house today if it wasn't for you. You kept our house from falling down on our heads and/or falling out from under our feet. Any time we needed something fixed, you were there in a second. Anytime we needed anything, especially food and our beloved coffee, you were there to give it to us, even though you insist it will kill us. And all the things that you have done with Rory are in her speech for the reception, so I'll keep quiet on that subject.

"Honestly, you are my rock in anything and everything, no matter what. On days when I feel like I can't handle my life, you are there to show me it's not that bad. On days that absolutely suck, you are there to hear me rant and make them seem brighter. On days that I suck, you are there to love me unconditionally. Luke, without you in my life, I know I couldn't live," Lorelai concluded.

This time, Lorelai looked at the Reverend, and he began again. "By the power vested in me by God, the state of Connecticut and Taylor, I now, finally, pronounce you man and wife."

After the regular vows, the exchanging of rings and the sweet things they had said to each other, Luke and Lorelai couldn't wait any longer. They kissed each other passionately and the Reverend looked at them, shrugged and said, "You may go on kissing the bride."

Rory and Jess just had to laugh and soon everyone in the crowd was laughing. After the couple separated the Reverend presented them as Mr. and Mrs. Luke Danes. Rory squealed and handed her mother back her flowers with a huge smile on her face.

Rory and Jess had to walk out arm in arm behind the bride and groom and Rory looked at him with a smile on her face. She sighed. "That was so romantic. Who would have known Luke was such a softie. Didn't you think it was beautiful?"

Jess shrugged and grunted noncommittally.

"Oh come on," Rory urged. "You have to have some thoughts on the subject. Do you agree with me?"

Jess, knowing this girl, knew she wouldn't let up until she got what she wanted, so he agreed. "Yes, I suppose it could be classified as beautiful."

"Who knew Jess Mariano could be such a softie?" Rory teased.

"I do have a reputation to keep here," Jess reminded her. "If you tell anybody…"

"You won't do anything to me," Rory told him laughing. "Besides, who am I going to tell…besides my mom and Luke."

"If you tell Luke…" Jess began to threaten, but knew he couldn't threaten her. He couldn't do anything to her; it would kill him.

Rory laughed again. "Come on, we have to hand out these rose petals for people to throw."

As they began to hand out the petals, Rory began to think about Jess. He had all the classic symptoms, again! What's worse was she was beginning to fall for them, again! She couldn't do this, not now. She was in Yale; she was on her way to becoming a journalist, and not just a journalist, a foreign correspondent. She couldn't do that if she was otherwise occupied. She bit her lip unconsciously.

Jess looked at Rory again and noticed her biting her lip. He knew he was falling for her again. Oh, who was he kidding? He had already fallen and fallen hard. He had it for her bad…again!

_ I love their speeches! I hope you do too…it's my favorite part up to now! I'll update again tomorrow, no more MIA for a while…now, review and tell me if you liked it! Please?_


	18. Chapter 18

_Disclaimer: Ownership is still not mine._

_A/N: And now the reception. Jess and Rory give speeches about the bride and groom. What do they have to say about them? Enjoy!_

Everyone had finally arrived at the reception and Sookie tapped on her glass to get everyone's attention. "It is now time for the speeches by the best man and maid of honor."

Jess stood up from his seat and began. "I am like Luke in the words department. I am going to try to keep this short, and you will thank me when you see the size of the maid of honors speech."

"Hey!" Rory cried.

Jess shrugged. "I'm just going off experience here."

"What experience?" Rory challenged. "When have you ever heard me give a speech?"

Jess shook his head. "If you don't be quiet, I won't get finished with mine and we never will."

Rory wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at him. This didn't faze Jess in the least, it just made him laugh.

"Lorelai Gilmore is the object of my speech," Jess told everyone. "I'm sure this makes her extremely happy, since everyone knows she is my biggest fan (sarcasm laced his voice and everyone laughed).

"The first time she met me, I knew we weren't going to be fast friends. It was also when we first met that I found out she was in love with my uncle. She was standing there, spouting on and on about how lucky I was to have him and how I was being rude to him and I was sure there was something funny going on with that. I didn't think anyone could care that much about anyone. I asked her, very rudely now that I think about it, if she was sleeping with him. That is exactly how I phrased it and she was very offended. Looking back, she had every right to be. I didn't ask only because of the way she was talking about him. She had this look in her eyes that I had never really seen. I thought it was love back then, and I guess I was right. I just didn't know the difference between love and lust back then. I met a very important person who showed me the difference, but that's a different speech for a different day.

"I enjoy annoying Luke by randomly calling him Uncle Luke. I would enjoy annoying Lorelai by calling her Aunt Lorelai, but she would just come back with a snarky comment like Nephew Jess. So, until I think of some annoying tactics that will annoy even the master annoyer, to me you will just be Lorelai. Lorelai, the woman who my uncle took long enough to ask out, but the only woman he really loved. The woman that I am so glad happens to be my aunt. I never liked Nicole anyway," Jess concluded.

"If I'm not mistaken, aren't you the one who told me to go after Nicole?" Luke questioned, not able to keep this comment to himself.

"Hey, I just said sitting around waiting for the Gilmore girls to notice us was getting us nowhere," Jess defended himself. "I never specifically said, 'Go after that girl over there.'"

"You sure implied it," Luke accused.

"I can't help it if you misread my statement," Jess said innocently. "Now if you don't mind, I believe you are hindering a beautiful lady from talking about you."

Luke rolled his eyes but motioned for Rory to begin.

"My speech really isn't that long," Rory said, referring to Jess' earlier statement. "Besides, he hasn't known my mom for as long as I have known Luke. Honestly, I can't remember a time when I didn't know Luke, and Jess remembers meeting my mom. Therefore, if my speech is a little longer, it has perfect right to be."

"It's getting longer by the second," Jess teased.

"Shut up!" Rory snapped. "Now, I know Luke is a very modest person and he doesn't like to hear people talk about him and/or praise him, but this is a very special day, and I am going to talk about him like there is no tomorrow."

"Oh boy," Jess muttered under his breath.

"Excuse me, but I didn't interrupt you," Rory said directing her comment at Jess. "I would appreciate it if you would show me the same courtesy as I gladly showed you."

"Okay," Rory began again turning back to the crowd. "As I said earlier, Luke has always been in my life. Because he provided me with coffee, even when I was little, he has always been an important part in my life. It was more than just providing me with the coffee though. I could tell that he didn't just think of me as another customer. I could also tell my mom didn't think of him as just another diner owner. The main reason was the diner was the first and only place my mom let me go without her. Walking down the street without her was a little scary, but in the diner I felt safe, no matter how crowded it was. I knew Luke would always keep one eye on me, even if Kirk wanted all his food cooked special or Taylor was getting on his last nerve.

"Luke also never got mad at me for doing anything. He always used to get mad at Mom when she would push two tables together and we would sit and eat there, because there were eight chairs and we were only two small people. One night, when I was supposed to meet my mom at the diner I had so much homework. I had just started Chilton and I had a lot of catching up to do, so I had about five books and three binders that I needed all at once. When Luke wasn't looking at me, I pulled another table over to mine and spread all my books out on the two tables. Eventually, he had to have seen me, but he didn't say anything and I hadn't even ordered anything. I was one small girl, taking up eight chairs that could have been used by paying customers and he didn't care. He always cared more about me than he did himself. He even brought me pie when I got frustrated and threw a pencil and he didn't make me pay for the food.

"Luke was the first man in my life that I could truly rely on for anything. My father, Christopher, was never around for anything, and Luke always was. Because that was the case, I have to disagree with the dictionary at this point in my speech. The dictionary basically says that father and dad are the same thing, mean the same. I do not agree at all. To me, a father is the man who gave me part of my DNA and gave me my left earlobe. To me, a father doesn't even have a role in his child's life.

"A dad actually cares about the child and makes sure he gets her birthday right and not three months late. He wants to see the child do well, even if it means taking up eight chairs in his diner without eating anything or even paying rent, when she offers. A dad goes to a caterpillar's funeral, makes mashed potatoes when that's all his daughter will eat, makes her a coffee cake for her 16th birthday, comes to her birthday party with ice, puts her boyfriend in a headlock when he hurts her, comes to her graduation, helps her move into her dorm, and wants to see her on her visits home from college. He praises her on her accomplishments and tries to make her feel better when something awful happens.

"Since those definitions are what I use, Christopher is my father, but Luke is, in every sense of the word, my dad. He always has been, and this wedding just makes it more official. I am so glad my mom finally got over her fears of messing up the friendship and just agreed to go out with Luke. Christopher always promised us we would be together and be a happy family. He broke that promise at least a thousand times. Luke, on the other hand, promised, and here he is. I can't remember one time when he has broken a promise and I know he never will. I feel incredibly lucky to have a dad like this one. I love you, Dad," Rory concluded her voice slightly breaking.

Rory blinked a few times to keep her tears at bay and Luke was trying to do the same. Kirk stepped up and said, "Now that those incredibly touching speeches have been made, the wedding party can go get their food, and the rest of the guests may follow them."

_I know this is a short chapter, and I know nothing dramatic really happened, but this seemed like a good place to stop. There was just nothing more to say with this chapter. The speeches were given and that was it. I love Rory's speech! Please tell me what you thought about this chapter! You can do that in a review! Please do so! _


	19. Chapter 19

_Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own it._

_ A/N: Rory and Jess have a conversation and so do Lorelai and Luke…well, if you can call theirs a conversation! *winks* Enjoy! _

"That was amazing!" Lorelai praised Rory as she got up to go get her dinner.

"Thanks," Rory whispered. "It wasn't easy, and I refused to cry in front of these people. Where is Luke? Was he that hungry that he couldn't wait for you?"

"He said he had to use the bathroom, but I think he just went inside the inn so he could cry and no one would see him," Lorelai confided in her daughter.

Rory's eyes went wide. "He's crying! Why? We talked about me calling him dad, and he didn't have a problem with it!"

"I'm sure that's not why he's crying," Lorelai corrected. "The speech was incredibly sweet, Kid. If it was all about me, I would have cried, like at your graduation. Luke just didn't want all these people to see him cry."

"I feel so bad!" Rory revealed. "When you go find him, please tell him I'm sorry. I never meant to make him cry. I just wanted him to know how I feel about him."

"I know," Lorelai assured Rory. "He does as well, and I'm not going to tell him you're sorry, because you're not, and he doesn't want you to be. He loves you calling him dad, he just needs a minute."

Rory shrugged. "Well, when you go find him, make sure of that, okay?"

Lorelai nodded. "I will."

Lorelai began to walk away and Rory couldn't stop herself from calling after her. "You'd better not take too long. If you do, I'm going to come looking for you, and I'd better not see something I don't want to see."

"So dirty!" Lorelai called back to Rory.

"You getting married has just so many possibilities!" Rory joked.

-%

A few minutes later Jess appeared with two plates of food. He set one down in front of her and joked, "Congratulations Miss Gilmore, you are officially the only one who can make the stoic, stony-faced Luke Danes cry."

Rory just rolled her eyes. "Why did you bring me food? You don't know what I wanted and what didn't."

"Relax, I didn't put anything that looked remotely vegetably on your plate," Jess assured her.

"Vegetably is not a word," Rory corrected him. "Vegetable is a noun not a verb, therefore, it cannot be made into an adverb by sticking an ly on the end."

"When did you become the grammar police?" Jess asked, sitting down in Lorelai's seat.

"Can you not sit there?" Rory asked him. "That's not your seat and I really don't want you sitting beside me right now."

"What's wrong?" Jess questioned, serious now. Something was really bothering her and he wanted to see what it was.

"You!" Rory exclaimed. "For one thing, you aren't sitting in your seat. But really, why did you do that to me in my speech? So it was a little long. Is that a crime? You didn't have to keep interrupting me and being so mean about it."

Jess was shocked, he didn't realize he was bothering her that much. "It was just a joke."

"At first it was," Rory agreed. "It turned into something more when I wasn't looking. Why were you being so rude? You always used to be nice. Well, you were only nice to me and it was probably just to get on Dean's nerves, but what happened?"

Hmmm, Jess was stuck. He couldn't tell her that he had to have something to keep himself occupied with while she was speaking. If he didn't, he would have thought things about her that he shouldn't, that he _couldn't_, be thinking. He quickly made up an excuse. "You are going to be a foreign correspondent, Rory. Everything you write is great. Especially that speech, it was amazing. I just didn't want to be shown up by you. I suppose that wasn't the right way to go about it, but I am not very skilled at tact. I'm sure you remember that; I know your mom does."

Rory couldn't help but smile. "You need to take a class in college, Tact 101. I wonder if they have that."

"Somehow I doubt that," Jess said.

Rory thought about it. "Yeah, you're probably right. But Jess, you aren't a bad writer. The speech was really well written, besides, I thought you said you liked all that English stuff."

"Just because I like it doesn't mean I'm good at it," Jess pointed out truthfully.

Rory shook her head. "But you are good at it. The speech you gave was just as good as mine. I do have a question for you though. You said you met someone who taught you the difference between love and lust. Who was that?"

Jess suddenly became very interested in his food. "I also said that was a different speech for a different day, didn't I?"

Rory wrinkled her forehead. "Yes."

Jess shrugged. "I don't believe it's a different day yet."

Rory rolled her eyes again, but she had her answer. He hadn't looked her in the eyes since she asked that question. She wasn't sure how she felt about that person being her…but she resolved not to think about it right now.

"Lorelai and Luke are sure taking a long time in the inn," Jess said, changing the subject and looking back up at Rory. "I wonder what they're doing."

"Gross!" Rory exclaimed. "Please don't put pictures of that in my head. Besides, they wouldn't dare do that now. They have a yard full of guests."

"True, but they just got married, hormones are raging," Jess rattled off, just to get on Rory's nerves.

"Gross!" Rory exclaimed again. "Stop! Can I just eat?" She looked down at her plate. "You really did do a good job. There is nothing vegetably on here at all."

"Vegetably is not a word," Jess teased. "Vegetable is a noun and not a verb, therefore, you cannot make it into an adverb by adding an ly to the end."

"Shut your mouth, smart ass," Rory snapped.

"Ass?" Jess asked. "Since when do you use that word?"

"Since I became a reporter," Rory said simply. She then brought a forkful of chicken to her lips, cutting off all conversation.

…**Meanwhile…**

"Luke!" Lorelai called walking into the inn. She then decided that checking the bathrooms might be a smart idea. She didn't have to walk very far though, because she found him on the couch in the lobby. She was also right; there were tears on his cheeks.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Lorelai teased. "A crying man."

"I'm not crying," Luke insisted.

Lorelai walked over to him and gently wiped one of the tears off his cheeks. "If that is so, then what are these?"

"Drops of sweat?" Luke tried.

Lorelai shook her head. "'Fraid not, babe. Try something else."

Luke shrugged. "I don't have anything else. I suppose I was crying, just a little."

Lorelai nodded. "Okay, well, now that we have cleared that up, we need to get back out there. We have a yard full of guests."

Luke grabbed her arms and kissed her fiercely. Lorelai was shocked for a minute, but when she decided to join in on the kiss, she was even more surprised to find that she was already responding, without even having to think about it.

While she was thoroughly enjoying this kiss, she tried to keep some sense of her surroundings. She knew they couldn't stay in here right now, as much as she might want to stay. She knew that while Rory didn't want to be scarred, she would come in and search if they were taking too long.

"Luke," Lorelai tried to protest, but it came out sounding more like a moan. "Luke," she tried again.

Luke ignored her and continued to kiss her. He was making his way down her jaw when she finally made him stop.

"Luke, stop!" Lorelai insisted.

When he pulled back to look at her, she gave him an apologetic look. "I normally wouldn't be trying to stop you, but we do have guests out there and unfortunately, we can't take our time right now, and I don't want a quicke."

Luke couldn't help but smile. "We can send them away, or ignore them."

"As much as I hate to admit it, my mother must have instilled some semblance of politeness in me, because I do feel like I have to mingle," Lorelai joked. "I can't really mingle without you."

Luke sighed as he raked his eyes up and down her body. "You need to take off that dress."

"What?" Lorelai asked, confused. "And dirty!"

"I just don't know how long I can look at you in that dress and not want to…" Luke trailed off, not knowing how to put what he wanted to say into words.

"Jump me?" Lorelai supplied.

Luke rolled his eyes. "I don't know that I would put it exactly like that, but whatever you say."

"Yep, dirty. We really can't take too long," Lorelai told him. "Rory already said she was going to come in here and look for us if we took too long, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to see any body parts that are usually covered by clothes. I also think that even if I were on board for this right now, the lobby would not be the best place to do this."

Luke smiled. "Well, I definitely don't want Rory to catch us."

"I'm really hating having to object to this though," Lorelai admitted. "You look incredibly lovely in that tuxedo."

Luke rolled his eyes again. "I never look lovely."

Lorelai raised her eyebrows dangerously. "What other word would you like me to use?"

Before she could spout off some random words, Luke kissed her again. Lorelai moaned, and let herself melt into the kiss for at least a few minutes. Luke had one of his hands wrapped around her waist and the other one was working its way into her hair. She let her arms snake around his neck and let her hands begin to play with the ends of his hair.

By this time, Luke and Lorelai's tongues were fully engaged in a battle of domination. Although Lorelai had promised herself that she would remember her surroundings, they were quickly fading away from her sights. She didn't want to be caught by her daughter, but that was overridden by how much enjoyment she was getting out of this kiss.

Lorelai sighed and melted into the kiss even more. Yes, they did have guests. Yes, they did need to go mingle, but she also knew Luke wouldn't be doing this in front of the guests; he was not a fan of PDA. A few more minutes of this wouldn't hurt.

_They did have some kind of conversation…see, it wasn't all dirty. I needed some romance in here though, it's been quite some time since I have described some…and I felt like I needed this…since this is technically a romance story. I hope you liked this chapter. Please review! I have been losing reviewers…if I don't get some back I will probably stop posting! So if you want more…please review! _


	20. Chapter 20

_Disclaimer: You know this by now._

_A/N: And now, the traditional wedding stuff…and some Rory and Jess. Enjoy!_

A while later, Luke and Lorelai walked back outside to mingle with their guests. They did all the things they were meant to do. They cut the cake and got it all over each other's faces (even though Luke complained). They drank champagne (even though Luke hated it) with their arms twisted around each others.

Lorelai and Richard danced to Heartland's song _I Loved Her First_. Then Luke and Lorelai danced to _Eternal Flame_ by The Bangles. During the middle of the song, Kirk got up and announced that anyone who was in love should join Luke and Lorelai on the floor.

During this time, Rory was talking to Lane. Her band was on a break because of these traditional dances. She was telling her all about the situation before the wedding when Jess walked up to Rory and tapped her on the shoulder.

When Rory turned around, Jess had his hand held out to her. She gave him a confused look and Lane started laughing.

Jess rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine, I guess I'll ask. Could I have this dance?"

Rory's eyes popped. "Jess! We can't dance right now. This is the bride and groom's song. Look at the people out there dancing. Mom and Luke, Kirk and Lulu, Babbette and Morey, grandma and grandpa, people in love and we aren't."

"Well, we have to dance eventually," Jess reasoned. "We are the best man and maid of honor. I think it's stated somewhere that they have to dance. It's better to get it over with, I suppose."

Rory faked disappointment. "You want to get it over with now! I can't believe you don't want to dance with me."

"That's not what I said," Jess argued.

"Oh relax," Rory said. "I was just teasing you. But no matter what you say, we aren't dancing to this song. Besides, I'm busy. I'll come get you in a few minutes and then I suppose we can dance."

"Oh alright," Jess sighed teasing her. "I'll just go wait over there. Don't take too long or I may waste away from longing."

That earned him a slap on the arm from Rory. "Shut up! And you and Luke think the Gilmores are drama queens. I can safely say I never did that."

Jess stuck his tongue out at her and walked away from them. Lane was still laughing and Rory was annoyed. "What is so funny!"

Lane shook her head amused. "You and Jess. It's like you two never broke up with each other. Well, minus all the kissing and stuff."

"What!" Rory exclaimed. She was trying to ignore this. Lane bringing it up was not helping.

"Can't you tell?" Lane asked. "He still has it bad for you."

Rory shrugged. "Maybe he does. But I can't fall for him again. He hurt me more than once and I don't want to be sucked into all his drama. I need to focus on school right now."

Lane studied Rory. "I think you have already fallen for him."

"It doesn't matter if I have or not," Rory insisted. "It will go nowhere. He is going back tomorrow to work in a bookstore in New York and is going to a community college up there."

"The word on the street is that he's making really good grades there," Lane said. "I bet he could get into Yale if he tried. Then you could focus on him and on school together."

"The word on the street?" Rory questioned Lane. "Anyway, I thought you hated Jess."

Lane shrugged. "He's okay I suppose. Besides, it doesn't matter. You like him."

"And now I'm going to dance with Jess," Rory said. Luke and Lorelai's song had just ended. "Don't get any ideas. I just want this conversation to be over…now. It's going places I don't like."

Lane shook her head and watched Rory and Jess. They sure looked like they were in love. Rory also said that she had told Jess to try to get into Yale and Lane knew that he would and she knew he would make it. He was very smart, and nobody, except Rory, gave him credit for it.

Jess and Rory were talking about all the books they recently read while they were dancing. Rory suddenly saw Ms. Patty out of the corner of her eye. Ms. Patty didn't worry her, what worried her was how quickly Ms. Patty was rushing over to Babette.

"Oh no," Rory breathed and rested her forehead on Jess' chest.

"What's wrong?" Jess asked.

"Ms. Patty is rushing over to Babbette and if I know them, they are probably looking at us right now, deciding when we are going to get married," Rory explained.

Jess laughed. "Well, I'm sure your head resting there is helping them with that impression."

Rory lifted her head. "Rumors are going to be flying! And you're leaving tomorrow, so I'll be left to deal with them all by myself!"

"I'm sorry," Jess apologized. "But at least my leaving will show them that we really aren't together."

"I still think you should stay a little while longer rumors or not," Rory told him. "We could hang out, it would be fun. I haven't seen you since before my high school graduation."

"I can't get time off right now," Jess lamented. "I do want to hang out with you too, though. Maybe I can get some before the summer is over this year. I'll try."

Rory nodded. "You should. We would have fun."

Jess chuckled. "Yeah, if you call dodging this crazy town and the lunatics in it fun."

Rory gasped. "You do realize you just called me a lunatic, don't you? And my mom!"

"You two aren't lunatics," Jess amended. "A little crazy, but not lunatics."

Rory couldn't help but laugh. "You are more like Luke than you think. He thinks this whole town is filled with lunatics as well. Of course, being like Luke isn't a bad thing."

"I don't think he wants me to be like him," Jess said, serious.

"Any boy who has had Luke as a role model should feel privileged," Rory decided. "He is amazing."

"Now you're sounding like your mother," Jess joked.

"I am her daughter," Rory said, smiling. She suddenly saw something that made her smile disappear.

"Turn around," Rory demanded. "We have to turn."

Jess was confused but complied with her request. "What?"

"Over there, leaning against the inn," Rory directed his eyes.

Jess studied the person intently before bursting out with, "I can't believe he came!"

Rory sighed and rested her head against Jess' chest again. "I'm afraid so. And now I have to go get rid of him."

_Now I think that is a cliffhanger if there ever was one. And if that doesn't get you to review and guess who the mystery man is nothing will. It might not be who you think. Please review and tell me what you think of this chapter and if you think I should continue this story…even though my favorite chapter hasn't been posted yet. If you guys think I should stop, I will…sooooo…review and tell me what you think please! _


	21. Chapter 21

_Disclaimer: If you still think I own it, look in some earlier chapters._

_A/N: You will now find out who is trying to crash the wedding. What is he going to do? Read and see. Enjoy! _

"What are you doing here!" Rory asked the man as she approached him.

"Is that any way to treat your dad?" Christopher asked her.

Rory looked over her shoulder at Luke. "Father," she corrected Chris.

"Father, Dad, same thing," Chris dismissed.

"Yeah, not really," Rory whispered. "Anyway, I don't think you answered my previous question. And to add to that, how did you know Mom was getting married today?"

"Richard told some people who told my dad who told me," Chris rattled off distractedly. He was searching the crowd and Rory could tell. She knew exactly who he was searching for and hoping he didn't find her. She quickly tried to get his attention back on her.

"So, back to that first question, what are you doing here?" Rory asked again.

Christopher shrugged. "I just wanted to see your mother."

"Wonderful," Rory muttered. "Well, I'll tell her you were here. I guess I'll see you later."

Christopher didn't move. "How about you can tell her now? And I'll join the festivities."

Rory rolled her eyes. "I should have known this wasn't going to be easy. I haven't seen Wedding Crashers in a while, but I don't want a repeat of any part of that at this wedding. Besides, you weren't invited for a reason. If you join the festivities, do you know the rumors that would be flying. Rumors are flying probably because you are here. Please, just leave."

"I will not leave until I see your mother," Christopher insisted.

"Do you have to be here and ruin this day for her as well?" Rory questioned. "You have ruined everything except this. Please, don't ruin this also!"

"I have ruined nothing," Christopher told Rory. "All I have done is try to show her that she belongs with me."

Rory rolled her eyes, "And that has ruined things. She believes you, I believe you and then you leave her. Leave us."

"What is your problem?" Christopher asked Rory. "Don't all children want their parents to be together?"

Rory looked over her shoulder at her mom and Luke again. "They are," she whispered.

"Excuse me?" Christopher inquired not thinking he heard her right. "What did you say?"

Rory was trying to think of an excuse, but then she wondered why she was worried about protecting him. Maybe if she made him mad enough he would leave. "I said they are," Rory told him louder.

"I am your dad!" Christopher exclaimed.

"Again, father," Rory corrected. "Only my biological father who wanted nothing to do with me."

"I asked your mother to marry me," Christopher defended himself.

"And because she said no that gave you permission to run off to California and never see me?" Rory asked, her voice a little higher. "Because she said no, you sent me birthday cards three months late, never had a stable address and never had a phone number where we could reach you? Because she said no, it gave you permission not to care?"

"Christopher, what are you doing here?" Lorelai asked from behind Rory.

"This just keeps getting better and better," Rory muttered quietly. "Mom, why don't you go back and dance. You coming over here draws attention to us and therefore will send rumors flying even more. Go back and dance with Dad."

"What did you just say?" Christopher cried. "I am your dad."

Rory shook her head. "You gave that title up long ago when you refused to care about me. At least Luke cares."

"The diner man?" Christopher asked, his voice a few pitches higher. He was very upset.

"Luke," Rory repeated. "He has a name."

"I can't believe she thinks that diner man is her father. This is all your fault," Christopher accused Lorelai.

"No, I know you're my father," Rory assured Chris. "It's just Luke is my dad."

"It's the same thing!" Christopher yelled, repeating the same thing he had already told her and she had already denied.

"We are not going over this again," Rory sighed. "I don't have time to explain the difference to you now."

"What are you doing here?" Lorelai repeated, trying to diffuse the fight between her ex-lover and her daughter.

"I just wanted to ask you if you are sure about this marriage Lore," Chris said, turning all his attention to her.

Lorelai laughed. "Do you think I would be here standing in a wedding dress if I wasn't?"

"But Lore, I love you," Chris said repeating what he had said many times.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "How many times have you told me that? And how many times have you actually showed me?"

"Well, none," Chris admitted. "But things have changed now."

"Yeah, things have," Rory agreed, jumping in to the conversation. "Mom is married."

Chris roughly grabbed Rory's arm. "But she can get out of it."

"Why would she want to get out of it?" Rory asked, trying not to show him how surprised she was that he had her arm. "Certainly not to marry you."

"You are becoming more and more disrespectful with every passing day," Christopher spat out to Rory.

"I am respectful to people who deserve it," Rory told him nonchalantly.

Christopher's eyes got wide and he gripped her arm tighter.

"You can let go of my arm now," Rory said. She thought he had forgot he had a hold of it.

"Did I make a mark on it?" Chris asked a bit worried. No matter how mad she had made him he would never intentionally hurt Rory.

"If you did, you will be so sorry," Lorelai told him venom lacing her words.

Rory nodded rubbing her arm, trying not to let her voice shake. "Yes, there is a mark and if you know what's good for you, you'll leave. That is, if you don't want to be ripped to shreds by Luke and Jess."

After she said that, she rushed inside the inn. She wasn't going to let Chris see her cry. Rory was also angry at herself for letting him get to her. She had taught herself long ago to not let Chris affect her, but he still did. The worst part was, he only made her cry.

Lorelai watched her daughter run away from Chris. "Okay, I think you need to leave now. You have caused your usual drama. It's time for me to fix it. Like I always do."

She started to walk away, but then turned back to him. "I'm going to go tell Luke what I'm going to do and if you are still here when I'm finished, Luke will take care of you."

Lorelai walked over to where Luke and Jess were standing together. "Where is Rory?" Jess asked concerned.

"Inside," Lorelai replied. "I'm getting ready to go get her."

"Is she okay?" Luke asked, just as concerned as Jess.

"She…will be," Lorelai answered.

"If he hurt her I'll kill him," Luke growled.

Lorelai smiled at his protectiveness; it was nice and one of the many reasons she loved him.

"He didn't really hurt her," Lorelai evaded. She wasn't exactly sure how to explain everything to Luke. "Just the usual stuff."

"It's not fair," Jess mused.

"What isn't?" Lorelai questioned.

"He doesn't understand how important he is to her," Jess explained. "Whether he has been here or not, he is still her father. He could make her happy if he tried. He has the power to make her happy or sad and all he's ever doing is making her sad. I think I'll help you kill him, Luke."

Lorelai laughed. "Well, we're lucky. I have a husband and she has a dad who will do anything to make us happy." She looked up at Luke. "And who will never make us cry."

Luke took her hand. "I would kill myself before I would make either of you cry."

Lorelai smiled. "I know. And it is hugely appreciated." She stood on her tiptoes to reach his lips. "I love you," Lorelai whispered.

"I love you too," Luke whispered back to her and then deepened the kiss.

Jess let them have a few moments, but then jolted them out of their romantic moment by clearing his throat. "If I'm not mistaken, Lorelai, you have someone in the inn that needs attending to right now."

"And he is right," Lorelai confirmed. "I'll see you both in a few minutes." Lorelai's smile grew wider as she turned to look at the inn and noticed Chris was gone.

_ So, I'm not sure that Chris was very dramatic with his wedding crashing…but maybe? Also, next time, we'll see Rory and Lorelai talking and we'll also see Luke and Jess have a talk about Rory. I hope you liked this. Please review! _


	22. Chapter 22

_Disclaimer: I don't own. _

_A/N: Lorelai and Rory are going to have a talk and Luke and Jess have a talk as well. That's about it. Enjoy!_

Lorelai walked into the inn and saw her daughter sitting on the couch in the lobby, trying to wipe away her tears. Considering tears were still falling, it wasn't an easy task.

Lorelai walked over to daughter. "Well, this seems to be the prime place for crying."

"Only at your wedding would you have crying," Rory tried to joke.

Lorelai nodded with a small smile on her face. "That's true. Now pretend you're five again and Chris just missed your birthday and tell Mommy all about it."

Rory managed a smile. "Well, it's not all about Chris. I'm mostly mad that I let him get to me again. I love Luke with everything in me, but for just a moment I imagined you up there marrying Chris. I mean, I don't want that or anything, so I don't know why I imagined it and it makes me mad that I did!

"And, he had to show up today. If it had been any other day you wouldn't have been here and I could have gotten rid of him. And you wouldn't have even had to know he was here," Rory concluded.

"You didn't have to get rid of him by yourself, Rory," Lorelai told her.

"Yes, I did," Rory insisted. "Every time he comes around, things are going good with us. He comes and our world is suddenly turned upside down again. Then, he leaves us with a mess and ruins things. I wasn't going to let his presence ruin your marriage. I won't let him ruin this. It means too much to you…it means too much to me."

"Sweets, I love that you think that you have to protect me, but you don't," Lorelai assured her daughter. "I'm a big girl. I've been taking care of myself basically since I was born. I can handle it."

"You deserve a break," Rory said. "You need someone to take care of you. That's why I'm here."

"No, that's why Luke's here," Lorelai corrected Rory. "He's here to take care of both of us. And he would never make us cry. I swear, sometimes I think he thinks his sole purpose in life is to make his Gilmore Girls happy."

Rory slightly smiled and then her tears started falling again. "I know that. And he is amazing. If he knew what Chris was doing over there he would have killed him without a second thought. In fact, Chris deserved it. Why didn't I want Luke to kill him? Why did some part of me feel bad for him?"

Lorelai felt her heart breaking for her daughter. The truth was, she didn't have a definite answer for her daughter. She guessed it was because through it all, he was still her father. For the longest time, Rory had adored Chris, even though he was never there. She lived for the birthday cards he sent and for the few visits.

Lorelai wasn't too worried about that. She knew Rory didn't care that she married Luke, she knew Rory wanted her to marry Luke. Christopher ruined everything, just like he always did, Rory was right.

Lorelai sighed and sat down beside her daughter and gathered Rory into her arms. She wished there was something she could say or do to make her feel better. As Lorelai looked down, she saw Rory's right arm and the red handprint on it. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to keep her tears at bay. No matter what she might say to her daughter, she wouldn't have minded if Luke came over and put Chris in his place…and broke a few bones while he was at it.

…**Meanwhile…**

"What is taking them so long!" Jess exploded to Luke. "They have been in there for much too long!"

Luke couldn't help but smile. "It hasn't been that long."

"Do you think Rory is okay?" Jess asked Luke.

"I'm sure if she isn't, she will be," Luke said. "After all, she has Lorelai, and unfortunately, she is used to this stuff. Speaking of Rory, we have to have a talk. And I can't think of a better time."

Jess rolled his eyes, but knowing where this was going. Luke was going to pretend like he was Rory's guardian…well, now he was.

"I can tell you like Rory. Actually, I'm not sure you ever completely got over her. As of now, I also know she doesn't have a boyfriend at Yale. I do know there are boys there that want her, so if you want to be in the crowd, you have to make yourself known," Luke explained. "But, you have to prove that you won't hurt her again. You also have to prove yourself to Lorelai, which will not be easy. Since you are in college and doing well, you might have a shot with Rory, because it should impress Lorelai.

"Rory is used to this Chris stuff so the people she loves should never hurt her. That includes you. You may be my nephew, but if you get another chance with Rory and you hurt her again, you will be so sorry. I will hunt you down, no matter where you are, and leave you within an inch of your life," Luke concluded. Jess looked into Luke's eyes and had no doubt that he meant everything he said.

"I have no plans to hurt her again. I actually have no plans to even get a shot with her again. I have to go back to work tomorrow, but I'm going to try to get some time off before the summer ends. I really do want to have another chance with her…I'm thinking of applying to Yale for the spring semester," Jess told Luke.

Luke smiled, incredibly proud of the man standing before him. Although Jess hadn't been with him for a long time and he didn't think he did anything to really help him, he liked to think that maybe he had some impact on his nephew's life. "I think that would be amazing. That won't make things work with Rory though."

"I know," Jess said. "But at least she will see that I am willing to try to make something of my life."

"She really is good for you," Luke marveled. He always knew Rory would be good for Jess, no matter what Lorelai said.

Jess looked intently at his uncle. "It wasn't all her, Luke. It wasn't all her."

Suddenly Luke knew. He knew that he had an impact on his nephew's life. He knew taking him in hadn't been a mistake. He knew letting him go out with Rory hadn't been a mistake. His decisions had been good.

Jess smiled at Luke. "You're going to make a great father, Uncle Luke."

Luke couldn't help it, he slapped (albeit gently) Jess on the neck. "What have I told you about that."

_ I'm sorry this was such a short chapter, but if I combined the next chapter with it this chapter would have been too long. Speaking of next time: Lorelai and Rory talk about Jess and Luke sees the handprint on Rory's arm. What will he do? Anything? Now, thank you soooooo much for all the reviews I got on the last chapter! So, what do you say? How about you all give me the same number for this one? Regardless, the last chapter' s number of reviews made me happy…review this one please…even though it was kind of a filler and nothing really exciting happened in it. _


	23. Chapter 23

_Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own them._

_A/N: More conversations. Lorelai and Rory talk about Jess and Luke sees the handprint! Oh no! Enjoy!_

"Are you ready?" Lorelai asked her daughter.

"To go back to your reception, yes," Rory replied. "On the other hand, I think I'd be better off hiding in here with this arm of mine. I'm not sure I want Luke or Jess to see it. They'll explode, but it's really not that bad! I mean, it doesn't even hurt."

Lorelai shrugged. "All I know is that if you don't go back, Jess might burst in here and look for you himself."

Rory couldn't help but laugh. "He needs to relax. I'm fine."

"Just like your mommy," Lorelai joked. "Always fine."

Rory nodded. "Yep."

They sat in silence for a few seconds until Rory broke it. "So…I think I might be falling for Jess again. At least, that's what Lane said. She also said he has it bad for me again."

Lorelai looked at her daughter. "What does this mean?"

Rory sighed. "I wish I knew. I mean, I really like him, but I don't know if I just like him for the physical aspects of a relationship, and don't say it, I know it was dirty, but that's not how I meant it. After all, he hurt me before and can I trust him not to do it again? And, he's going back to the bookstore, his summer job, tomorrow anyway. He said he was going to try to get some time off before the summer was over, but that was only after I told him I wanted to hang out with him. And I know you have a thing with him."

"Rory, you are eighteen, you are in college, I can't tell you who to date," Lorelai said.

"But you have the mom card," Rory argued.

"I didn't pull it out on you the last time you dated Jess," Lorelai pointed out truthfully. "I told you what I thought, but never flat out told you not to do it. I firmly believe in letting you date who you want and how you want…even if I don't think it's best for you. You have to make your own mistakes."

"Do you think Jess is a mistake?" Rory asked quietly. "Is that what you were just saying?"

"No!" Lorelai answered quickly.

"Well, then what do you think?" Rory questioned.

"Rory, did you not listen to anything I just said?" Lorelai asked exasperated.

"This isn't fair!" Rory cried. "You always make me tell you what I think about your boyfriends before you will get serious with them. So why can't I make you do the same thing?"

"I'm the mom," Lorelai replied.

"Sure, now you use that," Rory muttered.

Lorelai rolled her eyes and tried to explain it better. "Look Kid, anyone I get serious with has the potential to be your stepfather. I don't want to get serious with someone you don't like, because I don't want to lead them to thinking there will be something more when there won't."

"How is that any different with me?" Rory inquired. "Anyone I date has the potential to be your son-in-law. I'm not going to get serious with someone you don't like, because I don't want to lead them to thinking there will be something more when there won't."

"Oh, shut up, smart child of mine," Lorelai snapped. "Because, as much as I hate to admit it, that is a very good point."

Rory smiled. "Since it is such a good point, would you like to tell me what you think of me possibly dating Jess?"

Lorelai sighed knowing she was cornered. "I think that…he is really trying to make something out of his life. I think that he has turned out to be a really good kid, most of that is thanks to Luke. I do think that trusting him is a little iffy, because he has hurt you before and there is no guarantee that he won't do it again. Unless, of course, he has changed."

"If he has changed with his school habits, don't you think he might have changed in other ways as well?" Rory asked.

"It is possible," Lorelai admitted. "Those are my thoughts, but most of all I think that you should make your own decisions. If you want him, go for it. If you're scared he's going to hurt you, tell him so. Besides, if he does, I bet Luke will hurt him, nephew or not."

"You've got that right," Luke's voice sounded from the doorway.

"Luke!" Lorelai exclaimed surprised. Rory quickly hid her arm in the folds of her skirt and looked at him as well.

"What are you doing in here?" Rory asked.

"Well, I didn't mean to impose," Luke told them. "But, Lorelai, your parents are leaving and I'm pretty sure they want to see you before they leave."

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, I should probably go say bye to them." She got up off the couch. "Coming, Hun?"

Rory rubbed her lips together. How could she say no? She wasn't really in the mood to show Luke her arm and if she uncovered it there was no doubt that he would see it. He didn't need to be angry today.

"Rory," Luke said looking at her. "Why are you hiding your arm?"

"What arm?" Rory asked innocently. "I'm not hiding my arm." She held up her left arm as proof.

"Okay, what about the other one?" Luke asked. He knew something was up and he wasn't going to leave until he found out just what it was.

"Yeah, what about the other one?" Lorelai repeated. Rory had to show him and she might as well get it over with right now.

"Mom!" Rory cried. She didn't think her own mom would betray her like this. "Or should I say, Benedict?"

Lorelai shrugged. "You're going to have to show him eventually, and now seems like a good time. His screams won't attract as many guests as they would if we were outside when he sees it."

"Would you two stop talking about me like I'm not here?" Luke requested irritated. "And Rory, show me your arm. I gather that I'm not going to like it."

Rory shook her head. "Not at all." She pulled her arm out of the folds of her dress, squeezed her eyes shut and held it out to him.

"He did this to you?" Luke roared, causing Rory and Lorelai to jump. "I'll kill him!"

"It's fine!" Rory quickly told him. "It doesn't even hurt. Besides, he probably wants you to come looking for him. Don't give him the satisfaction. I mean, he was already mad because I called you my dad to his face so he probably wants you to find him so he can tell you some things. Of course, that's incredibly stupid because you could rip him apart, but Chris isn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. I promise you, my arm is fine. It doesn't even hurt. I wouldn't lie to you." She looked at him, her eyes pleading. She didn't exactly want Chris dead and she didn't want them to get into a fight. She knew that would happen, and Luke could end up hurt. She definitely didn't want that. Besides, this was his wedding after all. If he really had qualms with what Chris did when he got back from his honeymoon, then maybe she would let him go talk, and just talk, to Chris.

Luke studied her. "It doesn't hurt?"

Rory shook her head. "Not a bit. I can even touch it." She touched the red mark to prove it. Her eyes were still pleading with him and finally he caved.

"Okay, fine," Luke conceded, after all, this was one of his Gilmore girls. "You are going to have to give that same speech to Jess, because he will want to kill _him_ as well."

Rory smiled. "I think Jess could probably rip Chris apart also."

Lorelai laughed. "Now that would be something to see."

"Something you need to do is say bye to grandma and grandpa," Rory reminded her mom. "Tell them I said bye too, I have to find Jess."

"He'll probably find you," Luke told her.

Rory shrugged. "Well, that's lovely. Hiding the arm while standing up is going to be a challenge."

Luke and Lorelai had to laugh at that. Rory quickly joined in the laughter. They all had a picture in their heads of Rory bent over hiding her arm in her skirt while she was trying to walk. It was a funny picture at that.

_Next time: Emily and Richard leave and Lorelai finds out what happened before the wedding. How does she handle it? Also, Luke and Rory have a short talk. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review! Thanks for all the reviews on the last one, please review this one too! _


	24. Chapter 24

_Disclaimer: I still do not own._

_A/N: Emily and Richard talk to Lorelai and some secrets are revealed. Also, Luke and Rory talk. And…I stole some lines from the show in this chapter…well, I have done that in a lot of the chapters, but I just thought I would let you know about this one. Enjoy! _

"Mom, Dad, thank you so much for coming," Lorelai thanked her parents, walking up to them. "I wish you didn't have to leave so soon."

"Well, it is getting awfully late, Lorelai," Richard told her.

"Not to mention we haven't seen much of you this reception," Emily grumbled.

"I'm sorry, Mom," Lorelai apologized. "There was a situation that needed taking care of, but I'm here now. But, I will send Rory to Friday Night Dinner with this tiara."

Emily looked at her daughter. "You know what, I think you should keep it."

"What?" Lorelai gasped.

"It's a family heirloom," Emily told her. "I was going to give it to you when you got married, and now you are."

"And if I hadn't gotten married?" Lorelai asked.

"Well, then it would have gone to Rory," Emily informed her. "I trust you will give this to Rory when she gets married."

"Of course, Mom," Lorelai promised. "I'm really glad you decided to come."

"I am too," Emily admitted. "When Luke came to get me, I'll admit, I wasn't sure about this, but I'm glad I'm here."

"Luke came to get you?" Lorelai asked. "When?"

"Before the wedding," Emily told her. "That's why he was late."

"He was late?" Lorelai asked. "Jackson's panic attack!"

Luke groaned. "She didn't know about this, and I really didn't want her to know."

Emily shrugged. "Sorry."

Lorelai looked at Luke. "We'll talk more about this later." Luke sighed with relief at the realization that she didn't sound mad about this at all. She actually sounded in awe. Well, that was good.

"Lorelai, I was thinking," Emily started.

"Yes?" Lorelai prompted.

"If you wanted, you and Luke could come to Friday Night Dinner with Rory," Emily said, not making eye contact with Lorelai. She didn't want Lorelai to see how much she really did want her to come.

Lorelai smiled. "Mom, we would love to, but we are going to be on our honeymoon for the next two weeks. But the week we get back, we could come on that Friday. That is if the invitation is still good."

Emily smiled as well. "The invitation is good for any Friday you want."

Luke cleared his throat. "Uh, Lorelai…"

"Oh!" Lorelai exclaimed. "Well, Luke might not be able to come. See, Friday is Lane's day off and he doesn't want Ceaser to be alone with the diner for very long. It is widely known that he will try to put some unknown item on the menu or very well could set the place on fire."

"Oh dear!" Emily cried. "Well, if you can't come, that is understandable. I would hate for your establishment to be burned to the ground. Then you definitely couldn't support my daughter and granddaughter."

Lorelai couldn't help but smile at that. Yep, the same old Emily.

"See now Luke," Richard began. "If you had just agreed to franchise the diner, you wouldn't have to worry about this."

"I would still worry about it, because this is the only one I work at," Luke argued. "Besides, I gave you another chance, but that didn't work either." That had slipped out before he could stop it.

"Another chance?" Lorelai asked.

"Crap," Luke muttered under his breath.

Richard sighed. "I was going to try to get Emily to the wedding. If I could get her to come, Luke and I were going to talk about him franchising the diner."

Lorelai's eyes widened as did Emily's. "So that's why you kept bugging me this morning before you left for the wedding," Emily realized.

"You were going to franchise the diner!" Lorelai exclaimed. "For my mother?"

Luke had to laugh. "No, for you. I knew you wouldn't be truly happy today unless your mother was here and I wanted this to be the happiest day of your life."

Lorelai smiled and felt tears building up in her eyes. "You are amazing. Do you know that? Thank you."

Luke shrugged. "It was no big deal."

"Luke," Lorelai almost whispered.

"I just…like to see you happy," Luke admitted.

Lorelai stood on her tiptoes to give him a peck on the lips. It turned into something else before she or Luke were capable of stopping it.

"Emily, we'd better go," Richard told her.

"Oh right," Lorelai said, quickly breaking the kiss. She was amazed that she was actually having an enjoyable time with her parents.

"Tell Rory we said goodbye," Emily requested of Lorelai.

"I can just go get her," Lorelai offered. She was sure Rory had found Jess and explained by now.

"No, no," Emily denied. "She looks like she is having a good time dancing with that Jess boy."

Lorelai and Luke looked over at Rory and Jess to see them dancing and laughing. They could also see the tense way Jess stood. They knew he was still angry about Rory's arm, but knew there was nothing he could do.

Lorelai looked at Luke biting her lip, but Luke nodded at her. He knew she was worried about Rory and Jess, but he also knew that everything would be okay with them. Jess seemed like he had gotten much more mature in the past few years and Luke wasn't worried.

Lorelai's parents had left by this time and then she turned on Luke. "What in the world did you say to my mother?"

"What do you mean?" Luke asked. "I thought you would be happy."

"Oh, I am," Lorelai assured him. "I'm just surprised. I mean, did you hear what she said. She invited us to Friday Night Dinner!"

"You have been over there every Friday night since Rory started Chilton," Luke reminded her.

"But that's not the same," Lorelai argued. "I was expected to come. It was never 'Come if you want, Lorelai' it was always, 'I'll see you on Friday, Lorelai,'"

Luke shrugged, but made no move to answer her previous question.

"Luke!" Lorelai cried. "I have to know what you said! Besides, what's this I hear about you franchising the diner? There is so much I don't know, so much I need to know!"

"I think I'm going to go dance with Rory," Luke evaded.

Lorelai rolled her eyes knowing him well enough to know he was looking for a cop out. "Well, we are by no means done with this conversation. There will be more discussing later."

Luke cupped her face in his hands and kissed her deeply. He ran his tongue along her bottom lip requesting for entrance, which Lorelai gladly gave him. She was a bit surprised that he was doing this right now, because he was so against PDA, but she wasn't going to stop him.

They were engaged in a fierce battle of tongues when they vaguely heard some wolf whistles. They broke apart to see everyone staring at them; even Rory and Jess were staring. Jess was laughing while Rory had a look on her face that was a mixture of disgust and amusement.

"Go on, Sugah," Babette cheered. "Don't let us stop you."

Lorelai had to laugh and Luke even smiled. All the guests were laughing at Babette's statement. The guests slowly turned back to their own activities when they realized there was nothing more to see with the two lovebirds.

"Well," Lorelai began still a little out of breath. "After that, our discussing might have to wait until after the honeymoon."

Luke raked his eyes up and down Lorelai's body. She couldn't help but shiver at the look in his eyes. He leaned down close to her ear and growled, "I can't wait to get you out of that dress."

Lorelai shivered again and didn't even think to say dirty. When she had recovered some semblance of her voice back, she managed to say, "You know my feelings about the tux. So, right back at you, Stud."

Luke was already walking away to dance with Rory but he looked back at her with a smirk. "Dirty!"

-%

Luke tapped Jess on the shoulder. "You have been hogging this lady all night; I believe it is someone else's turn."

Jess rolled his eyes at his uncle, but stepped away from Rory. "She is all yours."

Rory rolled her eyes too, but she was doing so because of their antics. They really were like her and Lorelai; more than they cared to admit.

"So, I thought you don't dance," Rory began, trying to start conversation.

Luke shrugged. "I'm a compulsive liar. Besides, I thought, as your dad, I should get a chance to dance with you. I would have done it on the father daughter dance, but I thought your mom and Richard should be alone for that."

Rory nodded. "That was probably best."

Rory reached up to scratch her nose and Luke caught a glimpse of the handprint on her arm again. He tensed up and Rory sighed. "I told you, it's fine. It'll take a few days for the redness to go away, but it really doesn't hurt, I promise."

Luke shook his head. "I just hate him for hurting you, even if it is only superficial. You can deny it all you want, but I know he made you cry, and that is never okay."

Rory just shrugged. "I'll be fine."

Luke looked at Rory. "You do know that I will try my hardest to not let anyone like him hurt you again. And I will never hurt you like that."

Rory nodded. "I know. And thanks…Dad." Rory debated with herself for a few seconds, but went ahead and asked him her next question. "So, just to be clear, you are okay with me calling you dad?"

"We talked about this," Luke reminded her. "I was fine with it then and I am still okay with it now."

Rory smiled. "Good. Because I really like calling you dad. After all, as I have said, you definitely have earned the title, in every sense of the word. I don't really want to go back to Luke."

"I don't want you to have to go back to Luke," Luke admitted. "I love you."

"I know," Rory assured him. "And I love you, Dad."

Luke didn't know what possessed him to do it, but before he could stop himself, he had said the same thing. "I know."

Rory's mouth dropped and the smile on her face grew ten times wider. "I knew it! I knew I could get you to say it someday!"

Luke had to smile too; the smile on Rory's face was just too happy for him to keep a straight face. He loved it when his girls smiled. "I'm glad you liked it. Besides, seeing you smile like that made it all worth it."

Rory still had the smile on her face. "Who knew you could be such a softy?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "You and your mother."

"I am my mother's daughter," Rory reminded him. "Does this mean you will be answering my I love yous with I knows from now on?"

Luke shrugged, unable to believe he was actually thinking about this one. "I don't know. It's a possibility. Why do you two have me doing things that I would never do?"

Rory knew he was talking about her and her mother. Although the question was mostly rhetorical, Rory smiled at him and answered, "The Gilmore, now Danes, Girls can have that affect on people."

_Well, this chapter was longer than I had planned. The Luke/Rory talk had started out short, which was why my plan was to combine it with this chapter. But then, so much of you wanted a real talk I felt I had to expand it so it would live up to your expectations. By then, I had already promised it would be up today, so I had to post a long chapter. Yes, a slippery slope no matter how you slice it. Anyway, this is officially the last chapter. An epilogue will be up tomorrow though, so don't get too sad yet. Haha…anyway, please review! _


	25. Epilogue

_ Disclaimer: Nope, after 25 chapters and many, many words, I still don't own these characters. _

_ A/N: This is the last chapter. I have to thank all of my reviewers. You guys made this story worth writing. This story has gotten the most reviews and even though I probably won't make it to 100 it will still be pretty darn close and I hope you all enjoyed reviewing as much as I enjoyed writing and posting…and getting them! And now on to the epilogue…this is probably my favorite chapter of them all, and my longest! As this is the last installment, I really hope you enjoy! _

"Mommy, Daddy!" Emma called. "They're here!"

"Rory and Jess are here!" Her twin Aaron shouted.

"Mom, Dad!" Rory called as she stepped in the door.

She quickly had to grab onto the nearest sturdy object to steady herself as two six year old cannonballs launched themselves towards each of her legs. That sturdy object happened to be Jess, and as it turned out he wasn't too sturdy. He wasn't prepared for Rory to grab onto him, so when she did it took him by surprise and he was knocked off balance as well. They all four fell to the floor with a loud crash.

"What happened?" Lorelai questioned running into the entry hall with Luke right behind her.

Jess rolled his eyes. "A couple of midgets couldn't wait five seconds to grab onto their sister's legs. Then said sister dragged me down to the ground alongside her."

"We're not midgets!" Aaron reminded Jess while pushing Jess' duffel bag off his head (where it happened to land when Jess lost hold of it when he fell).

"Actually, Aaron, we are," Emma corrected him. "Midget means a very small person, and we are people and we are small."

Rory couldn't help but laugh. "Do we have another Chilton hopeful on her way?"

Luke smiled with pride at Emma. "Looks like it."

"Is there a baseball team at Chilton?" Aaron asked Rory.

"Well, I assume there is," Rory said. "I was never big on sports, so I can't really say for sure."

"Is it a good team?" Aaron asked.

Rory rolled her eyes. "I don't know."

"If it's good, I might go there," Aaron decided.

Jess couldn't help but laugh. "Looks like we have a mini Luke in the making."

Lorelai sighed. "Yes, and a good thing too. I can only handle one child at a time asking me those hard questions that I could never answer. I can't deal with both of them staring at me wanting a reliable answer."

At that Rory laughed. "So I see Emma is already following in my footsteps."

Emma got up from the floor and nodded. "I am! I went into your room to find a book to read, but I didn't know which ones to pick. Which ones would be good for me? What did you read when you were my age?" As she was saying all this she was pulling Rory toward her room.

"Wait for me!" Aaron shouted. He wasn't too interested in the books, but he didn't want to feel left out of this.

"I'll say hi to you two later. I love you," Rory shouted to Luke and Lorelai before she was dragged out of the room.  
"Love you too, Kid," Lorelai shouted back, while Luke shouted, "I know."

The sounds of Rory laughing could be heard in the entry hall, and they all knew

she was laughing at Luke's "I know" which had pretty much become habit over the years, much to Rory's delight, and Luke's annoyance (but he was unable to stop, the Gilmore/Danes girls just have that effect on him).

"Hello Lorelai, Luke," Jess said now that they were alone in the entry way. "I'm not sure I said that yet."

"You didn't," Luke confirmed.

Lorelai looked at Luke and they both looked at Jess. "Have you had any luck with the asking yet?" Lorelai whispered conspiratorially.

Jess shook his head. "Not yet. I'm waiting for the right time. I've been carrying the ring around with me though."

Luke gave Jess a small smile. "Don't wait too long. I may have waited eight years, but that doesn't mean I would recommend it, because I definitely wouldn't."

Lorelai smiled at Luke. "Such a softy."

"Okay, now, don't get gross," Jess warned them.

Luke and Lorelai rolled their eyes at Jess.

"I'm going to go make coffee," Lorelai announced. "And don't even start with me, Luke. I'll make you and Jess a cup of tea. I'll give that crazy son of yours a cup of milk."

"He's your son too," Luke called after her. "And our daughter had better be getting milk also."

"A child who denies coffee is no son of mine," Lorelai claimed completely ignoring Luke's last comment.

Luke rolled his eyes and directed his next comment at Jess. "Come in, sit on the couch, and make yourself at home. How is your last year at Yale? Of course, had you not changed your major three times in your junior year, you would be out by now, and wouldn't have been in community college for one year, and Yale for six years."

"I wanted to make some money. I'm definitely still going to write books on the side though, my main job will just be an English teacher. But, the year is going well," Jess told Luke. "It is very hard, but with Rory as my girlfriend I am of course making good grades. Even though she's been out of school for three years, and works at the Hartford Gazette she still knows her stuff."

"I would expect nothing less," Lorelai called out from the kitchen. "And from what Rory has told me, I don't think you need her to make those good grades."

"You got a new couch!" Jess said, amazed, finally noticing the new piece of furniture.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Apparently the old couch didn't go with the curtains."

"Why did you change the curtains?" Jess asked.

"Because they didn't go with the carpet," Luke sighed exasperatedly. "We changed the carpet because it didn't go with carpet on the stairs, the carpet on the stairs didn't go with the carpet upstairs, the carpet upstairs didn't go with the bedroom curtains, the bedroom curtains didn't go with the bedroom furniture, the bedroom furniture didn't go with the…must I continue?"

"No, I think I have the picture," Jess told him laughing.

"Are you two mocking me?" Lorelai asked from the kitchen where she was almost finished making coffee.

"Why would you think that?" Luke teased. "There is nothing about you to mock, Crazy Lady."

"Okay, now I know you're mocking me," Lorelai said decidedly coming into the living room with two cups of coffee, one very small cup of coffee (hidden behind the regular cups), two cups of milk and two cups of tea.

"Do I smell coffee?" Rory asked, joining her mom in the living room, with Emma and Aaron following behind her.

"That you do," Lorelai answered, handing her a cup.

"That stuff will kill you," Aaron told Rory seriously.

"Oh my gosh!" Rory exclaimed. "Luke, you have corrupted him. He won't drink coffee!"

"He won't eat much junk food either," Lorelai told Rory sadly. "What am I going to do with him?"

Rory looked behind her at Emma, who sneaked the small cup of coffee off the tray and was now drinking it. "At least we still have one who keeps the Gilmore tradition going."

"Lorelai!" Luke warned. "How many times have I told you not to give her coffee?"

"It's just a small cup, Daddy. Please?" Emma pouted.

Luke sighed, "I think I remember asking you not to teach her that as well."

"But it works so well," Emma said triumphantly.

Rory and Lorelai burst out in giggles. Their blue eyes and that lip had been known to work wonders on Luke and now that Emma was doing it, it was too much.

"I am so proud," Lorelai said in between giggles.

Rory sat down on the couch beside Jess still laughing. "Me too, Mom."

"You two are crazy," Jess said decidedly shaking his head at the two.

Rory swatted at his chest. "Shut up! You know you wouldn't want it any other way."

Jess suddenly knew he didn't want to wait any longer. "Can I talk to you for a second? Out on the porch?"

Rory looked at him strangely. "Why can't you talk to me in here?"

Lorelai smiled. "Just go with him Rory. I'm sure it won't take very long."

Rory shrugged. "Okay. Let's go."

After they walked outside Lorelai looked at her husband. "This was the perfect moment?"

"Maybe he just got tired of waiting?" Luke guessed. "Or maybe he isn't going to ask her right now."

"What is Jess going to ask Rory, Mommy?" Aaron asked innocently.

"We're not sure he's going to ask," Luke corrected his son.

The four of them heard a scream from the front porch. "He asked her," Lorelai concluded. "And from the sound of the scream, I think she said yes."

"Yes to what?" Emma asked. Before either one of her parents could answer her Rory came bursting into the room.

"I'm getting married!" Rory shouted excitedly.

Luke and Lorelai just smiled while Emma and Aaron got up to bombard Rory again, with questions about her ring and her dress.

"Kids, sit down for a few seconds," Lorelai reigned in her twins. "Give her room to breathe."

"Come sit on the couch beside your dad and me, midgets," Jess told them.

Aaron got ready to open his mouth to correct Jess, but Emma shot him a look so he kept his mouth shut and dutifully followed his sister to the couch.

Emma looked at Rory. "Wait, you're getting married?"

"Yes," Rory answered Emma.

"But Rory…" Emma trailed off.

"Oh!" Rory exclaimed. "Jess, I have to make a pro con list. I'll let you know how it turns out."

Jess smiled. "No need. I made one for you. Of course, it turned out that there were more pros than cons."

"Do not mock my lists!" Rory cried. "Those lists got me into Yale, which was the best decision I ever made."

"I'm not mocking," Jess told her truthfully. "I just thought you would want to make the list before you said yes, which is why I made one."

"Such a softly," Rory crooned while Luke and Lorelai laughed.

Rory turned to her mom and dad after hearing their laughter. "Why aren't you more excited?"

"Let's see, what is it you told me about eight years ago?" Lorelai teased. "It's kind of hard to be excited about something I knew was coming."

"Jess asked you?" Rory questioned quietly. "How sweet!"

Jess rolled his eyes. "Did you have to tell her that?"

Lorelai smiled at him. "Did you really expect me not to tell her that?" She directed her next question to Rory. "So about your foreign correspondence?"

Rory shrugged her shoulders. "There was actually a reason for this visit, other than just to see you all. You know I've been a rookie reporter at the Hartford Gazette and getting boring stories so I sent in some other applications, especially the one at the New York Times, looking for a traveling reporter." At Luke and Lorelai's nod, she continued, "Well, unfortunately, the New York Times turned me down, but I got a promotion at the Hartford Gazette! I won't be traveling very much and if I do it will just be around this area, but I will get real stories; stories that will actually take some time and be on the front page; stories that people might talk about, and people will definitely want to read. Besides, I don't really want to go away just yet. If I do, I'll miss these two twin terrors graduating Chilton, and graduating whatever Ivy League school they attend."

Emma shouted Yale at the same time Aaron groaned about Ivy League. Lorelai, Luke, Rory and Jess had to laugh at that display. Then Emma did something that made all four laugh even more.

"Aaron," Emma began to scold. "You know you have to go to college. Besides, if you go to Yale with me, I will be able to help you, and we could both graduate with honors. When you go to Chilton, you have to go to Yale, Harvard or Princeton. Of course, I will only be able to help you if you go to Yale."

Aaron grumbled, but knew that he would agree. After all, he really was smart (how could he not be?), he just didn't like to show off as much as his sister did.

"Mom, you will have to be my matron of honor for the wedding," Rory said, switching subjects smoothly and deftly as only a Gilmore could. "And I think I'll ask Lane as well."

Lorelai shook her head. "This wedding will turn out to be a town event as well. You were the town's sweetheart since the day we moved here."

Rory blushed, but continued as though she hadn't heard her mom. "Emma, you will have to be the flower girl. Are all those okay with you Jess?"

Jess nodded, "I guess, then, Luke you and Zack will have to be my best men, and of course, one of the two midgets, Aaron will be the ring bearer."

"Wait, don't I have to have a bridesmaid?" Rory asked. "Oh never mind, what was I thinking? Paris!"

Jess rolled his eyes. "Does that mean I have to have Doyle as a groomsman? I mean, I don't not like him, but…"

Rory smiled at her fiancé. "Well, if you don't have Doyle, then you will have to deal with the wrath of Paris and while you get a kick out of making her mad, right now might not be the best time to do that considering how much she is stressing about the workload in medical school. I think having Doyle as a groomsman would be a good idea. Oh, and one more thing, you have to wear a tux."

"Aw, jeez," Jess began to argue, but she stopped him.

"You are getting married," Rory stated the obvious. "You have to wear a tux when you get married."

Luke was laughing silently at Jess when Lorelai stopped Luke's laughing mid-chuckle. "I wouldn't be so smug my friend. You are the best man, you will be giving a speech at the reception along with me; that constitutes you in a tux as well."

Jess quickly nodded his head at that one. "Definitely. If I remember correctly, I was wearing a tux at your wedding and I was only the best man."

"Aw, jeez," Luke sighed at his misfortune.

"And don't you even start," Emma told Aaron. "I will not walk down the aisle with a ring bearer who isn't wearing a tux."

"Aw, jeez," Aaron groaned, he didn't even get to argue his point.

Jess rolled his eyes and sighed. "A smile, a lip and a glance from these girls and all of a sudden I am agreeing to do things I would never do for anyone else."

Aaron shook his head. "And apparently it starts at a young age." Emma punched him in the arm.

Luke sighed. "I have it tougher than any of you. I am weakened by all three of them. Jess, you only weaken with Rory and Emma, and Aaron, don't even start, Emma is your only weakness. Why is it like this?"

At this, it was Rory's turn to roll her eyes and sigh. "Dad, I believe I told you the answer to that question at the wedding."

"Looks like you'll have to tell him again, Kid," Lorelai inferred.

"Does that really surprise you?" Emma asked.

Rory shook her head. "Dad, the Gilmore, now Danes girls…"

Emma and Lorelai joined in with Rory. "Just have that effect on people."

_And that's it my friends. My first and only L/L fic, with a bit of Jess/Rory mixed in also. So, you want to tell me how I did, since this is the first time I tried this couple. I know it was incredibly long, but I edited it a lot before I posted and all this was necessary. I hope you liked it all and I won't know unless you review! This is the last chapter, the last chance you will get to tell me how wonderful or how awful this story was and I think you should jump at the chance. Okay, so do you see the button? Ready, set, and…review!_


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